LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

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GIFT  OF 

CALIFORNIA  WINE  MAKERS'  CORPORATION 
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SIP 


THE 


WINE    QUESTION 


IN    TIIK    LIGHT   OF  THE 


NEW  DISPENSATION. 


JOHN    ELLISj    M.D., 

K    OF   "THK    AVolDAl-:! 
UKFuRMITY,"    "AX  Abi>kl;>.->  TO  THK  ' 

DIVIMi  KKVKl.AMoN,"  ('  I'l 'KK  Wl  XK,   FKKM  KM  1 .1  >  \ 


"  Must  signifies  th<:  same  as  wine,  viz.,  truth  derived  from 
the  good  of  charity  and  I 

compared  to  suth  wine  a  n  •  nks  as  induce  drunk- 

enness." — EMANH£i-^aitiENi;  .  (695  and  1035). 


N  1 :  \\      YORK: 
PUBLISHED     IJV     THE     AUTHOR. 

(N  • 


THE 

«/  6 


WINE     QUESTION 


IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  THE 


NEW  DISPENSATION. 


BY 

JOHN    ELLIS,    M.D., 

AUTHOR      OF     "THE     AVOIDABLE     CAUSES      OF     DISEASE,     INSANITY,    AND 

DEFORMITY,"     "  AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  CLERGY,"   "SKEPTICISM   AND 

DIVINE  REVELATION,"  "  PURE  WINE,  FERMENTED  WINE."  ETC. 


"Must  signifies  the  same  as  wine,  viz.,  truth  derived  front 
the  good  of  charity  and  love"  "Falses  front  evil  may  be 
compared  to  such  wine  and  strong  drinks  as  induce  drunk' 
enness."  —  EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG'S  A.  E.  (695  and  1035). 


OF  T:^ 

J 


NEW    YORK: 

PUBLISHED     BY    THE    AUTHOR. 
1*3*. 


The  Author  has  not  obtained  a  "  Copyright"  on  this 
book.  It  is  therefore  free  to  all.  He  has  written  it  with 
no  expectation  of  making  money ;  it  has  been  electrotyped, 
and  if  any  one,  for  any  purpose,  desires  to  print  an  edition 
of  not  less  than  one  thousand  volumes,  the  author  will 
cheerfully  give  the  use  of  his  plates,  for  he  has  had  but  one 
desire  in  publishing  it,  and  that  is  to  benefit  his  fellow-man. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

PREFACE, 5-8 

CHAPTER  I. 

PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE   NEW  CHURCH   BEARING   UPON   THE   SUBJECT  OF 
INTOXICATING    DRINKS. 

Does  Alcohol  Correspond  to  Faith  Alone  ?    .         .        ,         ,        ,        9-20 
CHAPTER  II. 

IS   ALCOHOL  A   POISON  ? 

Consequently  is  Fermented  Wine,  owing  to  the  Presence  of  Alcohol, 
also  a  Poison  ? — Is  it  Wrong  for  a  New  Churchman  to  Teach  that 
Fermented  Wine  and  other  Intoxicating  Liquids  are  Poisons? — 
Moderation  Fallacy — Action  of  Alcohol  on  the  Mind,  .  21-37 

CHAPTER  III. 

TWO   KINDS   OF  WINE   RECOGNIZED    IN   THE  WORD   OF  THE   LORD 
AND   IN   THE   WRITINGS   OF  THE  NEW   CHURCH. 

One  KindJLJnfermented  and  Unintoxicating,  and  the  Other  Fermented, 

or  Leavened,  and  Intoxicating,     .  •         ••        •        •         3^~y14 

CHAPTER  IV. 

TWO   KINDS   OF  GRAPES,   TWO   KINDS   OF   MUST,  AND   TWO   KINDS   OF 
WINE ONE  GOOD   AND   THE  OTHER   BAD. 

New  Wine  in  Old  Bottles — Two  Kinds  of  Strong  Drink,     .        ,        45~58 
CHAPTER  V. 

WINES   OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

Ancient  Methods  of  Preserving  Wine,  so  as  to  Prevent  Fermentation 
— Preserving  Wine  Unfermented  by  Boiling — Present  Customs  in 
Wine-Growing  Countries — Preservation  of  Unfermented  Wine  by 
Evaporation  to  Comparative  Dryness — Preserving  Wine  by  Keep- 
ing Cool  in  Springs,  Rivers,  and  Cisterns — Filtering  "Wine  to 
Prevent  Fermentation — Preservation  of  Wine  by  the  use  of  Sweet 
Oil — Preservation  of  Wine  by  Fumigation — Modern  Unfermented 
Wine,  .  .  .  f  .  t  .  .  .  .  59-83 


&1138 


4  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI.  PAGE 

DRUNKENNESS  IN  WINE-GROWING  AND  BEER-CONSUMING  COUNTRIES. 
The  Testimony  of  Residents  and  Travellers,          ....         83-87 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   "  NEW  JERUSALEM  MESSENGER  "   AND  INTOXICATING  WINE. 

Falses  from  Evils — Intoxicating  Wines  and  Strong  Drinks,  .        88-97 

CHAPTER  VIII. ' 

THE   "NEW  JERUSALEM    MAGAZINE"   AND   THE  WINE   QUESTION. 

An  Original  Idea — Does  Fermentation  Produce  Unfermented  Bread 

and  Wine? 98-121 

CHAPTER  IX. 
"WORDS  FOR  THE  NEW  CHURCH"  AND  THE  WINE  AND  "WHISKY" 

QUESTION. 
The  "  Academy  of  the  New  Church,"  as  Represented  by  the  Above 

Serial, 122-148 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE  COMPARISONS   OF   EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG. 

The  Academy's  Interpretations  of  the  Same  in  its  Serial,         •         149-158 
CHAPTER  XI. 

A  NEW  VIEW. 

Wine  in  the  Most  Ancient  Church — Vinegar,  .        .        ,         159-164 

» 

CHAPTER  XII. 

COMMUNION   WINE. 

Wine  Used  by  Our  Lord  and  His  Disciples  in  the  Original  Institution 
of  the  Sacrament  of  the  Most  Holy  Supper — How  shall  we  Pre- 
pare our  Communion  Wine,  .  .  ..  .  .  .  165-192 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

PROHIBITION. 

Opinion  of  Governor  St.  John,  of  Kansas — Swedenborg's  Views,  193-200 
CHAPTER  XIV. 

FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND  WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH. 
Swedenborg's  Formula  for  Sacramental  Bread,  and  His  Ideas  as  to 
the  W7ine  Used  by  the  Lord  and  His  Disciples — Importance  of 
Organizing — Our  Periodicals  Should  be  Renovated  and  Filled 
with  New  Life — Great  Reforms  are  Rarely  Commenced  by  the 
Clergy,  .-  4  .-  .-  ;  .-  f«  .  .  .  201-228 


PREFACE. 


IT  is  doubtless  known  to  most  New  Church  readers  that  the 
writer  has  published  a  tract  on  "  Pure  Wine — Fermented  Wine, 
and  other  Alcoholic  Drinks."  This  tract  is  still  in  print,  and 
will  be  sent  with  pleasure  to  any  reader  of  the  Writings  of 
Emanuel  Swedenborg  who  has  not  seen  it.  The  author 
has  sent  a  copy  of  it  to  all  whose  names  he  has  been  able 
to  obtain,  and  will  continue  to  send  it  to  such  additional 
names  as  are  forwarded  to  him,  feeling  that  in  no  other  way 
can  he  do  as  much  service  for  the  cause  of  the  New  Church 
with  his  time  and  money,  as  in  spreading  a  knowledge  of  the 
truth  on  this  subject  among  the  members  of  the  Church,  the 
receivers  of  its  doctrines,  and  the  readers  of  Swedenborg's  works. 
A  letter  addressed  to  Dr.  John  Ellis,  New  York  City,  will  be  quite 
sure  to  reach  him.  He  also  desires  that  a  copy  of  the  present 
work  should  be  found  in  the  library  of  every  New  Church  family 
in  the  land.  He  would  rather  not  receive  the  names  of  those 
who  are  not  readers,  for  the  world  outside  of  the  recognized 
New  Church  is  too  wide  for  his  limited  means.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  the  tract  on  "Pure  Wine,"  etc.,  would  be  a 
good  tract  to  send  to  the  clergymen  of  the  various  denomi- 
nations to  invite  their  attention,  not  only  to  the  cause  of 
Temperance,  but  also  to  that  of  the  New  Church.  But  the 
writer  does  not  feel  that  that  tract  is  exactly  adapted  for 
this  purpose,  owing  to  the  controversial  character  of  some 
parts  of  it ;  and  he  does  not  desire  to  publish  to  the  outside 


0  PREFACE. 

world,  that  so  many  of  his  New  Church  brethern  advocate  and  jus- 
tify the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and  in  this  volume  he  pur- 
posely withholds  the  names  of  all  such,  for  he  is  sure  that  within  a 
very  few  years  they  will  thank  him  for  having  done  so.  But  he 
fully  recognizes  the  truth,  that  the  light  thrown  on  this  subject 
by  the  Writings  of  Swedenborg,  especially  by  the  philosophy 
taught  therein,  and  by  the  science  of  correspondences,  is  so 
clear,  that  the  circulation  of  a  suitable  tract  on  this  ques- 
tion cannot  but  be  very  useful  in  calling  attention  to  the 
Writings,  in  which  such  clear  views  and  insight  into  such  a 
practical  subject  are  to  be  found.  Therefore,  he  hopes  to  prepare 
or  cause  to  be  prepared,  at  no  very  distant  day,  a  tract  for  this 
purpose.  Several  articles  have  appeared  in  the  New  Jerusalem 
Magazine,  and  a  lengthy  review  of  the  tract  on  the  wine  question 
in  Words  for  the  New  Church,  all  in  opposition  to  the  views  set 
forth  in  our  tract ;  but  in  none  of  them,  with  but  a  single  excep- 
tion, has  any  serious  attempt  been  made  to  meet  the  question  in 
accordance  with  the  philosophy  and  science  of  correspondences, 
set  forth  in  the  writings  of  the  New  Church.  The  writers  have 
relied  on  comparisons  made  by  Swedenborg  between  spiritual 
conflicts  in  man's  regeneration  and  the  physical  clarifica- 
tion of  wine  by  fermentation  ;  and  upon  assumptions  which  have 
come  down  to  us  from  the  dark  ages,  unquestioned  seriously,  by 
New  Church  writers  and  teachers;  the  latter  apparently  for- 
getting what  the  Lord  said :  "Behold,  I  make  all  things  new." 
Fortunately,  while  New  Churchmen  have  been,  as  it  were, 
asleep,  many  of  the  most  intelligent  men  of  the  surrounding 
churches,  observing  the  pernicious  results  which  flow  from  the 
use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  have  taken  hold  of  this  subject 
in  sober  earnestness.  They  have  not  only  examined  the  Sa-. 


PREFACE.  7 

cred  Scriptures  in  the  original  languages  in  which  they  were 
written  and  have  been  preserved,  to  find  what  they  actually 
teach  upon  this  subject,  but  they  also  have  diligently  searched 
the  ancient  records  of  Bible  lands,  as  well  as  the  traditions  and 
present  usages;  until  now  a  mass  of  testimony  has  been 
accumulated,  which  is  completely  overwhelming,  and  fully 
sustains  the  late  Professor  George  Bush's  testimony  that  there 
is  nothing  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures  which  will  justify  the  use 
of  fermented  wine  as  a  beverage,  and  that  the  whole  Christian 
world  will  be  compelled,  at  no  distant  day,  to  come  to  this 
conclusion.  When,  a  year  or  two  ago,  the  writer,  in  re- 
sponse to  an  article  advocating  the  use  of  fermented  wine  in 
the  New  Jerusalem  Messenger,  alluded  to  the  above  testimony, 
making  quotations  from  ancient  authors  and  recent  writers,  and 
calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  neither  the  philosophy  of  the 
New  Church,  the  science  of  correspondences,  nor  the  express 
teachings  of  Swedenborg,  would  justify  the  use  of  either  fer- 
mented wine  or  other  intoxicating  drinks,  a  host  of  writers  rushed 
to  the  rescue  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and  the  New  Church  periodi- 
cals, were  plied  with  their  communications  ;  the  Messenger  hastily 
closed  the  discussion,  giving  no  opportunity  for  a  reply  to  the 
assumptions  and  arguments  of  the  advocates  of  fermented  wine. 
The  New  Jerusalem  Magazine,  after  admitting  several  articles  jus- 
tifying the  use  of  fermented  wine,  declined  to  admit  any  reply. 
When  the  tract  on  "Pure  Wine — Fermented  Wine,  and  other 
Intoxicating  Drinks  "  made  its  appearance,  the  placid  waters  of 
the  Academy  of  the  New  Church,  as  manifested  in  its  serial, . 
Words  for  the  New  Church,  were  moved  to  their  very  depths,  as 
the  reader  will  see  from  the  quotations  which  we  intend  to  make 
from  its  pages.  Well,  the  truth  upon  this  momentous  subject,  so 


8  PREFACE. 

important  to  such  vast  multitudes  of*  bur-  people,  and  especially 
to  every  New  Churchman,  is  .abroad.- ki  the  land.  In  this  age  of 
the  printing-press  it  cannot  be  hid ;  the  truth  is  mighty,  and  will 
prevail,  sooner  or  later,  even  though  it  is  excluded  from  our 
present  New  Church  periodicals. 

The  writer  will  simply  intimate  to  some  of  his  reverend  critics, 
that  among  New  Church  laymen,  and  even  among  literary  men 
outside  of  the  New  Church,  to  say  nothing  of  other  Christians, 
it  is  not  regarded  as  either  honorable,  just, or  right  to  criticise  a 
work  without  first  having  carefully  read  it,  and  without  paying 
some  attention  to  the  views  of  the  author.  It  is  manifest  that  if 
three  of  the  critics  who  noticed  the  tract  on  "Pure  Wine"  had 
carefully  read  it,  and  had  paid  any  attention  to  the  ideas  therein 
contained,  or  if  they  had  even  rea*d  the  two  first  words  of  the  title 
page  understandingly,  they  never  would  have  been  guilty  of  the 
absurdity  of  triumphantly  quoting  passages  from  the  Word,  and 
the  writings  of  the  Church,  to  prove  that  wine  has  a  good  cor- 
respondence and  is  useful,  thus  intimating  that  the  writer  had 
represented  to  the  contrary — which  was  not  true. 

The  present  volume  has  been  written  at  irregular  intervals, 
during  a  period  when  the  writer  has  been  overwhelmed  with 
business  and  care.  Many  volumes  treating  upon  the  subject 
considered  in  this  work  have  been  carefully  read,  occupying 
spare  moments  on  the  cars  and  steamboats,  as  well  as  at  home. 
Three  small  works  have  been  read,  and  extracts  selected  from 
them  since  the  first  chapter  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
printer,  and  two  of  them  were  not  even  published  at  that  time. 
Although  this  volume  has  been  too  long  delayed,  it  has  been 
published  at  the  earliest  moment  practicable. 

NEW  YORK,  October,  1881. 


THE  WINE  QUESTION 

IN    THE 

LIGHT  OF  THE  NEW  DISPENSATION. 

CHAPTER     I. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH  BEARING  UPON  THE  SUBJECT 
OF   INTOXICATING   DRINKS. 

"IT would  be  well  for  man,"  says  Swedenborg,  "to  prepare 
his  food  chiefly  with  reference  to  use  ;  for  by  so  doing  he  would 
have  for  his  object  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body ;  whereas, 
when  the  taste  is  the  chief  thing  attended  to,  the  body  thence 
becomes  diseased  at  heart,  inwardly  languishes,  and  conse- 
quently also  the  mind,  inasmuch  as  its  state  depends  on  the  state 
of  the  recipient  bodily  parts,  as  seeing  depends  on  the  state  of 
the  eye  ;  hence  the  madness  of  supposing  that  all  the  delight  of 
life,  and  what  is  commonly  called  the  summum  bonum,  consists 
in  luxury  and  pleasurable  indulgences :  hence  also  come  dull- 
ness and  stupidity  in  things  which  require  thought  and  judg- 
ment, whilst  the  mind  is'  disposed  only  for  the  exertions  of 
cunning  respecting  bodily  and  worldly  things :  hereby  man  ac- 
quires a  similitude  to  a  brute  animal  and  therefore  such  persons 
are  not  improperly  compared  with  brutes."  (A.  C.  8378.) 

"A  man  cannot  be  conjoined  to  the  Lord  unless  he  be  spiritual ; 
nor  can  he  be  spiritual  unless  he  be  rational ;  nor  rational  unless 
his  body  be  in  a  sound  state  :  these  things  are  like  a  house,  the 
body  is  like  the  foundation,  the  rational  principle  is  like  the 


10          PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH  BEARING 

superstructure,  the  spiritual  principle  like  the  things  in  the  house, 
and  conjunction  with  the  Lord  is  like  inhabitation."     (D.  L.  W. 

33°-) 

"All  things  created  by  the  Lord  are  uses,"  says  Swedenborg, 
and  as  to  the  uses  for  nourishing  the  body  he  says  :  "  Uses 
created  for  the  nourishment  of  the  body  are  all  "things  of  the 
vegetable  kingdom  which  are  for  meat  and  drink,  as  fruits, 
berries,  seeds,  pulse,  and  herbs ;  and  all  things  of  the  animal 
kingdom  which  are  eaten,  as  oxen,  cows,  calves,  deer,  sheep, 
kids,  goats,  lambs  and  their  milk ;  also  fowls  and  fishes  of  many 
kinds." 

"  There  are  indeed  many  things  which  are  not  used  by  man  ; 
but  superfluity  does  not  take  away  use,  but  causes  uses  to  endure. 
There  is  also  such  a  thing  as  abuse  of  uses  ;  but  abuse  does  not 
take  away  use,  as  the  falsification  of  truth  does  not  take  away 
truth,  except  only  in  those  who  are  guilty  of  it."  (D.  L.  W. 
331.)  In  other  words,  if  a  man  eats  or  drinks  any  healthy 
article  to  excess,  so  that  it  harms  and  is  not  useful  to  him,  it  does 
not  follow  that  the  same  food  or  drink  would  not  be  useful  to 
him  who  uses  it  properly. 

Thus  far  Swedenborg  has  been  speaking  only  of  good  and 
useful  articles  for  sustaining  and  nourishing  the  body,  and  of 
their  legitimate  use  and  abuse ;  but  he  now  comes  to  speak 
of  a  totally  different  class  of  substances,  or  of  "evil  uses,"  of 
.which  he  says : 

"  Good  uses  are  from  the  Lord,  and  evil  uses  are  from 
hell.  Evil  uses  were  not  created  by  the  Lord,  but  that  they 
originated  together  with  hell.  All  goods  which  exist  in  act  are 
called  uses,  and  all  evils  which  exist  in  act  are  called  uses,  but 
the  latter  are  called  evil  uses,  and  the  former  good  uses.  Now 
as  all  goods  are  from  the  Lord,  and  all  evils  from  hell,  it 
follows,  that  no  other  than  good  uses  were  created  by  the 
Lord,  and  that  evil  uses  originated  from  hell.  By  uses,  which 
are  treated  of  in  particular  in  this  article,  all  things  that  ap- 
pear on  earth,  as  animals  of  all  kinds  and  vegetables  of  all 
kinds ;  of  both  the  latter  and  the  former,  those  which  furnish  use 


UPON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  INTOXICATING  DRINKS.         II, 

to  man  are  from  the  Lord,  and  those  which  do  hurt  to  man  are 
from  hell."  Among  the  evil  uses  referred  to  above  he  enume- 
rates :  "  Wild  beasts  of  all  kinds,  as  serpents,  scorpions,  dragons, 
crocodiles,  tigers,  wolves,  foxes,  swine,  owls  of  different  kinds, 
bats,  rats  and  mice,  frogs,  locusts,  spiders,  and  noxious  insects  of 
many  kinds :  hemlock  and  aconite,  and  all  kinds  of  poison,  as 
well  in  herbs  as  in  earths  ;  in  a  word,  all  things  that  do  hurt  and 
kill  men ;  such  things  in  the  hells  appear  to  the  life,  just  like 
those  on  the  earth  and  in  it.  It  is  said  that  they  appear  there, 
but  still  they  are  not  there  as  on  earth,  for  they  are  mere  corres- 
pondences of  the  lusts  that  spring  from  evil  loves,  and  present 
themselves  before  others  in  such  forms."  (D.  L.  W.  339.) 

Swedenborg  again  says  :  "  The  things  that  do  hurt  to  a  man 
are  called  uses,  because  they  are  of  use  to  the  wicked  to  do  evil, 
and  because  they  contribute  to  absorb  malignities,  and  thus  also 
as  remedies.  Use  is  applied  in  both  senses,  like  love ;  for  we 
speak  of  good  love  and  evil  love,  and  love  calls  all  that  use 
which  is  done  by  itself."  (D.  L.  W.  336.) 

So  it  will  be  clearly  seen,  from  the  above  quotations,  that 
there  are  in  the  world  substances  which  are  good  and  useful  as 
articles  of  food  and  drink,  which  in  themselves  always  have  a 
good  correspondence — they  are  always  good  uses,  for  they  are 
among  the  good  gifts  of  God ;  we  may  abuse  them,  but  we  can- 
not convert  them  into  evil  uses — they  are  still  good.  So  it  is 
equally  clear,  from  the  above  quotations,  that  we  have  another 
class  of  substances,  which,  when  used  as  food  and  drink,  are 
always  evil  uses — evil  in  themselves,  for  they  originate  from  hell 
we  are  told  ;  and  even  though  they  may  contain  some  materials 
which  may  nourish  the  body  of  man,  as  most  poisonous  vege- 
tables do,  as  a  whole  they  are  poisonous  and  injurious,  and  never 
in  health  can  we  use  them  without  violating  the  laws  of  our 
being,  and  the  plain  philosophical  teaching  of  the  New  Church. 
Can  anything  be  clearer  than  this  ?  Further  on  in  this  work  it 
will  be  shown  that  fermented  wine,  whisky,  and  other  intoxicating 
drinks  are  poisons  ;  and,  consequently,  that  they  are,  according  to 
the  philosophy  of  the  New  Church,  from  hell.  Of  no  other  sub- 


12          PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH  BEARING 

stance,  or  article  ever  used  as  drink  or  food  have  we  such  long  con- 
tinued historical  records,  both  secular  and  sacred,  showing  that  it 
harms  and  kills  men  when  used  as  a  beverage,  as  we  have  in  the 
case  of  fermented  wine. 

How  clear  it  is,  that  when  Swedenborg  says  that:.  "Falses 
from  evil  may  be  compared  to  such  wine  and  strong  drinks  as 
induce  drunkenness,"  and  Words  for  the  New  Church  as- 
sures us  that  "  comparisons  when  employed  by  Swedenborg  are 
correspondences7' — that  the  Academy's  editors  are  correct,  in 
this  instance,  at  least — -but,  hereafter  we  shall  show,  whether  this 
doctrine  is  to  be  accepted  as  true  or  not,  how  far  they  come 
short  of  correctly  applying  it  in  another  comparison  which  they 
have  selected  from  Swedenborg's  writings,  to  justify  the  use  of 
fermented  wine,  whisky,  and  other  intoxicating  drinks. 

We  repeat,  in  substance,  that  intoxicating  drinks,  even  the 
single  article  of  fermented  wine,  has  hurt  and  killed  more  of  the 
human  family  than  all  other  poisons  or  evil  uses  pertaining  to 
food  and  drink  put  together*  It  has  done  it  more  insidiously, 
more  -cruelly,  and  has  perverted  the  passions  and  appetites  of 
men  immeasurably  more  than  all  other  poisons.  It  has  caused 
more  wretchedness,  poverty,  domestic  unhappiness,  and  crime 
than  all  other  poisons  put  together.  It  so  clearly  belongs  to  the 
evil  uses,  which  Swedenborg  assures  us  have  their  origin  from 
hell,  that  it  seems  strange  that  any  intelligent  New  Churchman 
should  for  a  moment  claim  that  fermented  wine  is  a  good  and 
useful  article  to  drink,  when  in  health.  In  sickness  the  chemical 
elements  of  fermented  wine  may  be  curative  in  rare  instances. 
Chemistry  shows  conclusively  that  it  is  in  no  true  sense  the  fruit  of 
the  vine  ;  that  almost  all  of  the  organized  substances  contained 
in  the  juice  of  the  grape  have  been  either  partially  or  totally  de- 
stroyed, precipitated,  changed,  and  perverted  by  leaven  or  fer- 
ment. Can  an  evil  substance,  like  leaven,  bring  forth  good 
fruit?  But  as  several  New  Church  writers  have  denied  that 
fermented  wine  and  alcohol  are  poisons,  the  author  will  consider 
this  subject  at  length  in  the  next  chapter. 


UPON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  INTOXICATING  DRINKS.         13 

Good,  pure,  clean  water,  the  unfermented  blood  of  the  grape, 
wine  or  must,  as  it  flows  from  the  press,  unfermented  new  and 
old  wine,  good  sound  wheat  and  other  grains,  suitable  for  human 
food,  and  fresh  meal  and  flour  made  from  the  same,  sweet  un- 
leavenexl  bread,  good  fresh  mutton  and  beef  from  healthy  cattle, 
and  many  other  wholesome  articles  not  here  enumerated,  when 
used  as  drink  and  food,  supply  the  wants  of  the  human  body  and 
give  substance  and  thus  strength,  without  causing  any  unnatural 
excitement  or  depression,  or  any  disease  peculiar  to  the  article 
used,  however  freely  it  may  be  taken,  and  without  causing  any 
unnatural  appetite  which  other  healthy  articles  will  not  satisfy,  and 
without  requiring  to  be  taken  in  gradually  increasing  quantities 
to  satisfy  the  appetite  for  them,  and  which  therefore  in  their 
action  are  not  seductive,  are  all  good  uses,  according  to  the 
philosophy  of  Swedenborg,  and  always  have  a  good  signification 
and  correspondence,  and  they  are  never  evil  or  bad  uses,  and 
they  never  have  a  bad  signification  or  correspondence.  But 
these  good  uses,  as  we  have  already  intimated,  may  be  abused, 
used  to  excess,  or  improperly  used  ;  but  abuse,  excessive  or  im- 
proper use  does  not  destroy  them  as  good  uses,  and  they  are  still 
good  uses,  and  have  a  good  signification  and  correspondence, 
however  much  their  abuse  may  injure  the  individual  misusing 
them.  Their  improper  use,  abuse,  or  excessive  use  may  have  a 
bad  signification,  but  the  substances  themselves  never  have,  for 
they  are  the  good  gifts  of  God,  and  always  correspond  to  truths 
and  good  affections.  Swedenborg  says:  "As  meats  and  drinks 
recreate  the  natural  life,  so  good  affections  and  genuine  truths 
corresponding  to  them  recreate  the  spiritual  life."  (Swedenborg's 
Index  to  the  A.  C.) 

On  the  other  hand,  water  contaminated  by  arsenic,  copper, 
alcohol  or  other  injurious  substances,  or  which  is  dirty  and  filthy 
from  the  presence  of  substances  capable  of  causing  disease  or 
injury  when  drank,  fermenting  must  and  new  wine,  and  fermented 
new  and  old  wine,  owing  to  their  either  being  or  having  been 
polluted  by  fermentation  and  its  poisonous  product  (alcohol), 
unsound  or  decaying  wheat  and  other  grains,  sour  or  mouldy 


14  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH  BEARING 

bread,  diseased  or  putrid  beef  and  mutton,  henbane,  opium,  the 
deadly  nightshade,  tobacco  and  other  poisonous  plants,  when 
used  as  drink  and  food  are  always  evil  uses,  and  have  a  bad  sig- 
nification and  correspondence,  and  are  never  good  uses,  and 
never  have  a  good  correspondence.  Many  of  the  above  sub- 
stances possess  in  an  eminent  degree  all  the  characteristics  of 
poisons,  as  the  writer  has  shown  elsewhere.  This  is  especially 
true  of  all  fermented  and  alcoholic  drinks,  opium,  and  tobacco, 
for  they  cause  diseases  peculiar  to  the  substance  taken,  their  use 
develops  an  unnatural  appetite  which  healthy  food  and  drink  will 
not  satisfy,  and  which  no  other  substance  in  nature  will  satisfy, 
and  they  require  to  be  taken  in  gradually  increasing  quantities  to 
satisfy  the  appetite  for  them  until  a  quantity  which  would  kill 
several  men  not  addicted  to  their  use,  may  be  taken  with  im- 
punity by  those  who  are  accustomed  to  their  use. 

The  above  poisonous  substances,  or  evil  uses,  may  be  applied 
to. good  purposes,  and  thus  used,  their  use  may,  perhaps,  have  a 
good  signification ;  for  we  are  told  that,  during  the  process  of 
regeneration,  evil  spirits  flow  into  man's  evil  inclinations  and  ex- 
cite them,  and  by  so  doing  bring  them  before  his  mental  vision, 
enabling  him  to  see  them,  when,  if  he  resists,  overcomes  and  puts 
them  away,  such  evil  spirits  have  been  useful  to  him  ;  so  poisonous 
substances  taken  into  the  physical  body  will  excite  diseases  similar 
to  those  they  will  cause  when  taken  by  the  healthy,  and  thus  bring 
such  existing  diseases  into  view,  or  make  them  manifest  to  that  liv- 
ing force  which  is  ever  active  to  preserve  the  health  of  the  body, 
and  if  the  latter  reacts,  overcomes  and  puts  away  such  diseases, 
a  good  use  is  performed  by  these  poisonous  substances.  But 
such  good  uses  do  not  change  the  inherent  quality  of  either  the 
evil  spirits,  or  of  the  poisons,  the  former  are  still  evil  and  the 
latter  are  still  poisonous.  We  should  be  careful  and  not  con- 
found evil  with  good  or  the  false  with  truth.  Poisonous  sub- 
stances, as  food  and  drink,  correspond  to  evils  and  falses,  appro- 
priated and  imbibed,  and,  therefore,  however  useful  for  the  cure 
of  diseases  they  should  never  be  used  by  man  during  health. 


UPON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  INTOXICATING  DRINKS.          15 

Now,  brethren  of  the  New  Church,  you  who  advocate,  justify, 
and  thus  encourage  the  use  of  intoxicating  or  fermented  wine, 
beer  and  distilled  liquors,  tobacco  or  opium,  it  is  certainly  diffi- 
cult to  see  how  it  is  possible  for  you  to  overthrow  this  grand 
philosophy  of  the  Church,  so  rational  and  beautiful,  and  which  is 
so  clearly  sustained  by  the  analogy  which  exists  between  the 
action  of  fermented  wine,  beer,  and  alcohol,  on  the  body  and 
mind,  and  falses  from  evil  on  the  soul.  Before  you  can  sustain 
your  views,  the  philosophy  of  good  and  evil  uses,  as  laid  down  by 
Swedenborg  and  the  science  of  correspondences,  must  be  over- 
thrown, and  his  direct  and  positive  comparison  of  fertnented 
wine  to  falses  from  evil  must  be  set  aside. 

If  natural  drunkenness  corresponds  to  spiritual  drunkenness, 
as  it  unquestionably  does,  is  it  not  absolutely  certain  that  the 
cause  of  natural  drunkenness  must  correspond  to  the  cause  of 
spiritual  drunkenness  ?  Is  it  not  a  universal  law  that  like  effects 
from  like  causes  flow  ?  "  Delirium  in  truths  by  falses  is  spiritual 
inebriation,"  "And  they  who  falsify  the  Word  are  spiritually  in7 
ebriated."  (A.  E.  887.) 

"  That  to  be  drunk  signifies  to  be  insane  in  spiritual  things 
from  the  falses  of  evil."  (Swedenborg's  Index  to  the  A.  E.) 

Can  anything  be  clearer  than  that  such  wine  and  strong  drink 
as  cause  natural  drunkenness  correspond  to  falses  from  evil, 
which  cause  the  spiritual  inebriation  or  insanity  to  which  natural 
drunkenness  corresponds  ? 

There  is  but  one  substance  in  nature  that  causes  natural 
drunkenness,  and  that  is  alcohol  wherever  found,  be  it  in  whisky, 
fermented  wine  or  beer — it  therefore  corresponds  to  the  falsifica- 
tion of  the  Word  from  evil. 

DOES   ALCOHOL   CORRESPOND    TO    FAITH  ALONE? 

It  has  been  thought  by  some  that  distilled  spirits,  or  alcohol, 
corresponds  to  faith  alone  ;  but  that  this  is  not  correct  is  mani- 
fest, for  fermentation  destroys  substances  in  the  wine,  which  cor- 
respond to  good,  and  even  pollutes  the  water  which  corresponds 
to  truth,  with  its  own  vile  product,  alcohol ;  and  even  the  de- 


1 6  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH  BEARING 

lightful  aroma  of  the  natural  wine  is  perverted  into  the  flavor  of 
alcohol ;  and  the  whole  fluid,  as  to  taste,  smell,  and  appearance  is 
changed,  until  there  is  simply  a  semblance  of  the  original  fluid. 
The  separation  of  the  alcohol  from  fermented  wine  by  distillation 
may  be  compared  with,  and  unquestionably  corresponds  to,  the 
separation  of  all  the  appearances  and  semblances  of  truth,  in  the 
mind  of  the  evil  man  before  he  goes  to  his  final  home  in  the 
spiritual  world,  when  his  falses  are  fully  in  harmony  with  his  evils 
— in  other  words  are  pure  falses — falses  from  evil.  This  view  is 
abundantly  sustained  by  the  testimony  of  Swedenborg,  for  he  de- 
clared that  whisky  was  a  pernicious  drink,  and  that  the  immoderate 
use  of  spiritous  liquors  would  be  the  downfall  of  the  Swedish 
people  ;  and  he  compares,  as  we  shall  see,  such  wine  and  strong 
drink  as  will  cause  drunkenness  to  falses  from  evil. 

But  we  are  often  guilty  of  separating  what  God  has  joined  to- 
gether for  the  sustenance  of  the  material  body,  which  unquestion- 
ably corresponds  to  the  separation  of  faith  from  charity,  for  it  is 
a  natural  result  that  spiritual  perversions  should  ultimate  them- 
selves in  natural  perversions.  As  we  have  seen,  the  philosophy 
of  the  New  Church  teaches  us  that  natural  substances  which  sus- 
tain the  body,  correspond  to  goodness  and  truth  which  sustain 
the  spirit. ;  and,  of  course,  the  perversions  of  the  former  must  cor- 
respond to  the  perversions  of  the  latter ;  and  we  shall  see  that  all 
of  the  effects  of  the  natural  perversions  correspond  to  the  effects 
of  the  spiritual  perversions.  The  light  and  heat  of  the  sun  flow 
down  to  man  as  one  vitalizing  power ;  but  separate  the  light  from 
the  heat  by  blinds  and  curtains,  in  a  very  slight  degree,  in  rooms 
where  women  and  children  dwell,  and  the  effects  are  soon  mani- 
fest, which  are  not  exactly  in  the  line  of  active  diseases  which 
result  from  any  poisonous  substance,  but  rather  show  want  or  star- 
vation ;  the  eyes  become  weak  and  are  often  troubled  with  symp- 
toms of  amaurosis  or  paralysis  of  the  optic  nerve,  which  result 
from  the  want  of  light,  the  blood  becomes  thin  and  watery,  and 
the  skin  puts  on  a  pale  and  lifeless  appearance  and  the  whole 
body  languishes  for  the  want  of  light,  but  no  specific  disease  re- 
sults from  this  cause  ;  although  it  is  true  that  the  individual  thus 


UPON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  INTOXICATING  DRINKS.          I? 

deprived  of  light  is  more  susceptible  to  the  action  of  any  prevailing 
cause  of  disease  than  those  who  are  accustomed  to  the  full  light 
of  day.  Even  the  beneficent  sunlight  may  be  perverted  by  a 
lense  until  it  will  destroy  the  eyes  and  burn  the  body. 

Take  new  wine,  or  the  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape.  If  we 
were  to  separate  the  water  and  sugar  from  the  albumen  and  other 
substances  contained  therein,  they  would  still  be  good  and  use- 
ful substances  and  not  poisons. but  as  while  a  man  might  live  on 
the  expressed  juice  of  the  grape  he  would  starve  to  death  on 
such  separate  fluid,  for  it  would  not  contain  all  the  substances 
necessary  to  nourish  the  structures  of  the  body  ;  so  the  spirit  of  man 
cannot  live  upon  truth  alone  and  the  delight  which  flows  there- 
from ;  his  affections  must  be  nourished.  The  correspondence 
which  exists  in  every  particular  is  wonderful  !  Although  alcohol 
is  the  result  of  the  absolute  perversion  and  destruction  of  sugar 
by  fermentation,  yet  take  only  the  pure  sugar  and  water  from  the 
new  wine  and  the  sugar  will  never  ferment,  for  fermentation  al- 
ways commences  in  the  gluten  which  nourishes  the  body  as  good 
does  the  soul,  and  from  thence  extends  to  the  sugar.  So  before 
falses  can  seriously  pervert  the  understanding  the  affections 
must  be  perverted ;  and  when  a  man,  to  justify  the  unlawful  grati- 
fication of  his  appetites  and  passions,  searches  the  Word  and 
the  Writings,  and  perverts  the  truths  therein  from  their  true  mean- 
ing, and  thus  makes  evils  allowable  to  him,  .he  becomes  a  spiritual 
drunkard,  as.Swedenborg  tells  us ;  and  if  the  evil  justified  is  the 
use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  he  is  very  liable,  as  we  all  know,  to 
become  a  natural  drunkard  :  when  the  destruction  and  wreck  of 
heavenly  and  natural  life  are  complete.  New  Churchmen  will 
do  well  to  carefully  consider  this  whole  subject  in  the  light  of 
correspondences  ;  and  if,  first  laying  aside  preconceived  opinions, 
they  will  do  this,  they  cannot  well  mistake  the  truth 'and  their  duty. 

There  is  another  habit  of  separating  what  God  has  joined 
together  for  human  sustenance  and  food,  which  is  well  worthy  of 
our  most  serious  consideration.  We  allow  the  miller  to  take 
wheat,  that  noblest  of  all  grains  for  human  food,  which  contains 
all  of  the  materials  required  to  nourish  the  human  body,  per- 


1 8          PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH  BEARING 

haps  more  perfectly  than  any  other  substance — and  bolt  it 
the  utmost  care,  and  to  cast  away  in  the  form  of  shorts  and 
bran  most  of  the  gluten,  phosphates,  etc.,  required  to  give 
substance  and  strength  to  the  body,  reserving  simply  the  super- 
fine flour,  composed  principally  of  starch,  which  is  analogous 
to  sugar  and  easily  converted  into  sugar,  and  is,  like  the  latter, 
useful  to  warm  the  body,  and  indirectly  to  produce  fat  when  used 
as  food.  Now,  this  superfine  flour  is  not  a  poison,  and  causes  no 
specific  disease  peculiar  to  itself  when  used,  although  dyspepsia 
frequently  results  from  its  use,  but  it  is  owing  to  excess  and  not 
to  quality ;  for  starch,  like  sugar,  must  be  converted  or  rather  per- 
verted by  leaven  into  alcohol  before  it  becomes  a  poison,  or  is 
capable  of  causing  drunkenness.  If  the  stomach  is  filled  with 
starch  when  it  should  have  a  due  proportion  of  other  food,  we 
can  readily  understand  why,  from  such  excess,  indigestion  results. 
This  separation,  as  far  as  is  practicable,  of  starch  from  the  por- 
tion of  the  wheat  which  nourishes  the  bones,  muscles,  brain,  etc., 
and  the  attempt  to  live  on  superfine  flour  alone,  may  be  compared 
to  the  separation  of  faith  from  charity,  and  the  attempt  to  build  up 
a  heavenly  life  by  faith  alone  ;  and  it  is  unquestionably  one  of  the 
perversions  of  a  consummated  Church,  and  the  most  fearful  con- 
sequences follow,  but  not  directly  in  the  line  of  disease,  for  starch 
is  not, as  we  have  said, a  poison;  but  bread  enters  so  largely  into 
the  food,  especially  of  the  young,  that  when  children  use  bread  from 
superfine  flour,  and  fill  their  stomachs  with  such  bre^d,  the  most 
important  structures  of  their  bodies  are  actually  starved ;  and  they 
would  starve  to  death,  were  it  not  for  the  milk,  potatoes,  etc., 
which  they  eat  in  addition  to  such  bread ;  and,  as  it  is,  they  are 
often  half-starved.  The  bones,  with  children  thus  fed,  do  not 
obtain  the  nourishment  they  need,  and  therefore  such  children  are 
often  troubled  with  bowing  and  other  deformities  of  the  legs,  their 
spines  are  not  unfrequently  crooked,  their  jaws  imperfectly  devel- 
oped, consequently  their  teeth  are  crowded,  and  the  teeth  with 
many  children  are  so  imperfectly  developed  that  they  decay  and 
are  often  lost  during  childhood  and  youth,  instead  of  lasting  dur- 
ing life  as  they  manifestly  should,  and  would  if  men  were  living 


UPON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  INTOXICATING  DRINKS.         19 

an  orderly  life.  The  muscles  are  thin  and  flabby,  and  therefore 
lack  strength ;  the  brain  is  not  duly  nourished,  consequently  in- 
stead of  mental  strength,  the  mind  is  irritable,  peevish  and  dissat- 
isfied. The  child  may  be  fat,  for  starch,  as  has  been  intimated, 
may  contribute  to  that  end,  when  other  structures  are  half-starved. 

A  writer  in  The  Nineteenth  Century  says,  in  regard  to  white  or 
brown  bread  :  "The  earliest  agitator  in  the  matter  observed  two 
years  ago,  when  travelling  in  Sicily,  that  the  laboring  classes  there 
live  healthily  and  work  well  upon  a  vegetable  diet,  the  staple  arti- 
cle of  which  is  bread  made  of  well  ground  wheat-meal.  Nor  are 
the  Sicilians  by  any  means  the  only  people  so  supported.  'The 
Hindus  of  the  Northwestern  Province  can  walk  fifty  or  sixty  miles 
a  day  with  no  other  food  than  chapatties,  made  of  the  whole 
meal,  with  a  little  ghee  or  Galam  butter.'  Turkish  and  Arab 
porters,  capable  of  carrying  burdens  of  from  four  hundred  to  six 
hundred  pounds,  live  on  bread  only,  with  the  occasional  addition 
of  fruit  and  vegetables.  The  Spartans  and  Romans  of  old  time 
lived  their  vigorous  lives  on  bread  made  of  wheaten  meal.  In 
Northern,  as  well  as  Southern  climates,  we  find  the  same  thing. 
In  Russia,  Sweden,  Scotland,  and  elsewhere,  the  poor  live  chiefly 
on  bread,  always  made  from  some  whole  meal — wheat,  oats  or 
rye — and  the  peasantry,  of  whatever  climate,  so  fed,  always  com- 
pare favorably  with  our  South  English  poor,  who,  in  conditions  of 
indigence  precluding  them  from  obtaining  sufficient  meat  food, 
starve,  if  not  to  death,  at  least  into  sickliness,  on  the  white  bread 
it  is  our  modern  English  habit  to  prefer.  White  bread  alone 
will  not  support  animal  life.  Bread  made  of  the  whole  grain  will. 
The  experiment  has  been  tried  in  France  by  Magendie.  Dogs 
were  the  subjects  of  the  trial,  and  every  care  was  taken  to  equal- 
ize all  the  other  conditions — to  proportion  the  quantity  of  food 
given  in  each  case  to  the  weight  of  the  animal  experimented  upon, 
and  so  forth.  The  result  was  sufficiently  marked.  At  the  end  of 
forty  days  the  dogs  fed  solely  on  white  bread  died.  The  dogs 
fed  on  bread  made  of  the  whole  grain  remained  vigorous,  healthy, 
and  well  nourished." 

When  the  light  and  life  of  the  New  Jerusalem  begin  to  be 


20  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH  BEARING 

truly  received  by  men,  and  to  influence  their  lives,  not  only  will 
such  poisonous  substances  as  intoxicating  drinks,  tobacco,  and 
opium,  which,  according  to  the  philosophy  of  the  New  Church, 
have  their  origin  from  hell,  and  not  from  the  Lord,  cease  to  be 
used  by  healthy  men,  but  also  such  miserable  shams  as  dark  rooms, 
small  waists,  and  superfine  flour  will  disappear  forever.  Are  not 
evils  which  result  from  perverted  appetites  and  vanity,  and  which 
are  the  cause  of  deformity,  disease,  insanity,  the  most  intense  suffer- 
ing, poverty,  drunkenness,  crime,  and  the  premature  death  of  such 
vast  multitudes  of  our  race,  of  sufficient  moment  to  require  the 
attention  of  our  New  Church  clergy  and  periodicals  ?  To  shun 
such  evils  as  sins  against  God  would  seem  to  be  the  first  duty  of 
every  one  who  is  thus  transgressing  His  laws ;  but  is  it  not 
the  paramount  duty  of  the  teacher  of  public  and  private  morals 
to  shun  them  as  sins,  and  to  make  every  effort  in  his  power  to 
destroy  the  cause  of  evil?  And  since  divine  things  with  the 
people  are  provided  by  the  Lord  through  the  clergy  and  the  press, 
are  the  clergy  doing  their  duty  when  they  either  ignore  or  directly 
countenance  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  beverages  ? 

Turning  to  a  recent  number  of  the  Messenger,  a  periodical  of 
the  New  Church,  the  writer  finds  not  the  slightest  allusion  to  any 
of  the  above  evils,  but  he  does  find,  under  the  head  of  "  Essays," 
a  lengthy  article  on  ;  "  The  Relation  of  Ministers  to  the  Organiza- 
tion of  the  Church,"  with  the  promise  of  three  more  articles  or 
installments  of  the  same  essay  in  succeeding  numbers  of  the  paper. 
Well,  this  reminds  the  writer  of  a  story,  as  his  old  friend  Dr. 
Douglas  used  to  say.  A  man,  from  advancing  years  and  the  in- 
firmities which  old  age  sometimes  brings,  had  become  somewhat 
childish  and  so  feeble  as  not  to  feel  able  to  attend  church.  On 
a  very  pleasant  day,  feeling  unusually  well,  he  determined  to  attend. 
On  his  return  from  church,  he  was  asked  how  he  liked  the 
minister  and  the  sermon.  With  great  enthusiasm  he  replied  that 
the  minister  was  a  wonderful  man,  and  his  sermon  was  the  finest 
sermon  he  had  ever  heard,  so  learned,  useful,  and  so  eloquently 
delivered.  Well,  inquired  his  friend,  what  was  the  subject  of  his 
discourse  :  "Why,"  he  replied,  "  It  was  all  about  his  salary." 


CHAPTER     II. 

IS    ALCOHOL    A     POISON  ? CONSEQUENTLY,      IS     FERMENTED     WINE, 

OWING   TO   THE   PRESENCE   OF  ALCOHOL,    ALSO   A   POISON  ? 

THE  writer,  in  his  tract  on  "  Pure  Wine,"  etc.,  presented  some- 
what hastily  the  evidence  that  alcohol,  wherever  found,  when 
taken  into  the  stomach  is  a  poison ;  and  one  of  the  most  fearful 
and  deadly  of  all  the  poisonous  substances  in  the  world,  produc- 
ing dreadful  effects,  not  only  upon  the  body — causing  some  of 
the  most  serious  and  fatal  of  the  diseases  to  which  the  physical 
system  is  liable — but  also  upon  the  mind  of  man,  causing  unnatural 
excitement,  and  consequent  mental  depression,  delirium  and 
insanity ;  and  that  the  specific  action  of  alcohol,  above  all  other 
poisons,  is  to  excite  the  perverted  passions  of  man  to  an  extent 
which  very  frequently  results  in  the  commission  of  the  most  hor- 
rible crimes,  which  men  would  rarely  commit  when  not  under  the 
influence  of  this  poison.  He  also  called  the  attention  of  the 
reader  to  the  fact  that  no  healthy  article  of  food  or  drink  ever 
produces  upon  the  body  and  mind  of  man  the  slightest  approach 
to  any  such  direful  effects — that  poisons,  and  poisons  alone,  pro- 
duce such  effects  ;  healthy  food  never.  He  also  called  the  atten- 
tion- of  the  reader  to  the  origin  of  alcohol,  to  the  fact  that  it 
originates  from  the  destruction  of  sugar,  a  good  and  useful 
article  of  food  corresponding  to  spiritual  delights,  by  leaven 
which  "signifies  the  evil  and  the  false,  which  should  not  be  mixed 
with  things  good  and  true;"  and  that  in  every  respect  the  action 
of  alcohol  on  the  body  and  mind  is  analogous  to  the  action  of 
falses  upon  the  soul.  First :  That  it  causes  specific  unnatural 
effects,  like  falses  which  pervert  the  understanding  of  man,  and 
encourage  and  justify  his  evils.  Second  :  That  it  causes  a  specific 
unnatural  appetite,  like  falses  from  evil  which  excite  to  specific 
which  no  natural  or  orderly  food,  nor  even  any  other  poison 

(21) 


22  ALCOHOL  A  POISON. 

or  evil  ever  satisfies.  Third  :  It  requires  to  be  taken  in  increasing 
quantities  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  appetite  and  of  the 
organism  which  have  been  perverted  by  it,  until  many  times  the 
quantity  a  man — accustomed  to  healthy  food  only — cannot  take 
without  destroying  life,  can  be  used  with  impunity ;  precisely  as 
falses  from  evil  lead  the  innocent  man  to  and  from  the  commis- 
sion of  slight  crimes,  at  which  his  conscience  revolts,  gradually, 
step  by  step,  to  the  commission  of  the  most  terrible  crimes,  and 
justify  him  in  the  same,  until  his  spirit  is  so  perverted  that  an. 
orderly  life  and  the  pleasures  arising  therefrom,  satisfy  not ; 
and  down,  down  the  broad  road  he  rushes,  regardless  of  every 
thing  and  everybody,  precisely  as  does  the  drinker  of  alcoholic 
and  fermented  drinks.  Fourth:  It  palliates  the  suffering  which 
it  has  caused,  which  the  Lord  permits  to  follow  in  the  physical 
organization,  to  remind  the  man  that  by  its  use  he  is  violating  the 
natural  laws  of  his  being — in  other  words,  it  quiets  and  dulls  his 
physical  conscience,  precisely  as  the  repetition  of  acts  which  are 
known  to  be  evil,  quiets  and  dulls  the  spiritual  conscience  of 
man,  until  it  is  seared,  and  the  individual  becomes  reckless  and 
lost. 

We  also  called  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  chemical 
changes  which  are  wrought  by  fermentation  upon  good  wine, 
the  pure  juice  of  the  grape — the  fruit  of  the  vine — of  which  our 
Lord  and  His  disciples  drank  when  He  was  partaking  the  Passover 
cup  at  the  Last  Supper.  We  showed  that  leaven  or  ferment  in 
its  onslaught  upon  good  wine — which  contains  in  a  wonderful 
manner,  most  perfectly  united  by  the  Lord,  all  the  constituents 
required  to  nourish  the  material  body — tends  to  pervert  and  de- 
stroy the  organized  substances  which  nourish  the  material  body  as 
good  does  the  soul,  and,  to  the  extent  the  process  of  fermentation 
is  carried,  it  actually  destroys  the  sugar,  so  delightful  to  the 
unperverted  taste,  and  converts  it  into  carbonic  acid  gas,  a  gas  which 
we  cannot  breathe  without  risking  or  destroying  life,  and  alcohol; 
a  poisonous  liquid,  which  we  cannot  drink  without  great  danger 
to  health,  reason,  and  life. 

Another  source  of  positive  information  that  alcohol  is  a  poison 


ALCOHOL  A  POISON.  23 

is  derived  from  the  results  which  follow,  when  one  who  has  been 
accustomed  to  its  use,  attempts  to  stop  taking  it,  and  to  substitute 
other  drinks  in  its  place,  specific  suffering  follows  even  to  delirium 
tremens,  which  is  characteristic  of  this  poison.  The  substitution 
of  one  article  of  healthy  drink  or  food  for  another  never  causes 
such  specific  symptoms  or  suffering. 

Now,  it  would  certainly  seem  that  no  intelligent  man,  especially 
no  New  Churchman,  who  has  any  knowledge  of  the  science  of 
correspondences,  and  of  the  philosophy  contained  in  the  Writings 
of  Swedenborg,  and  who  has  read  his  Bible  carefully,  can  for  a 
moment  question  the  poisonous  character  of  alcohol.  But,  as 
we  shall  bring  the  testimony  of  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  and  of  the 
Writings  of  Swedenborg,  when  we  come  to  speak  of  the  two 
kinds  of  wine,  we  will  refer  the  reader  to  the  following  chapter 
for  further  testimony  from  the  above  sources,  and  will  here  refer 
to  the  testimony  of  distinguished  writers,  in  all  ages,  aside  from 
that  contained  in  the  Bible.  We  will  first  give  the  testimony 
of  ancient  writers  before  and  about  the  time  of  the  commence- 
ment of  the  first  Christian  Church.  For  many  of  the  historical 
facts,  quotations  and  records  contained  in  this  chapter,  we  are 
indebted  to  a  recent  work,  by  Rev.  G.  W.  Samson,  D.  D.,  on  the 
"Divine  Law  as  to  Wines,"  just  published. 

"  Porphyry,  quotes  from  a  lost  work  of  Chaeremon,  librarian  at 
a  sacred  college  in  Egypt  under  the  Caesars,  this  historic  record : 
'  Some  do  not  drink  wine  at  all,  and  others  drink  very  little  of  it, 
on  account  of  its  being  injurious  to  the  nerves,  oppressive  to  the 
head,  an  impediment  to  invention,  and  an  incentive  to  lust.' 

"In  the  'Hieratic  Papyri,'  or  records  of  Egyptian  priests,  found 
on  paper  made  from  the  stem  of  the  water-lily  (Anasti,  No.  IV., 
Let.  xi.)  is  this  record  of  the  address  of  an  Egyptian  priest  to  a 
pupil  who  had  become  addicted  to  the  use  of  the  beer  of  Lower 
and  the  wine  of  Upper  Egypt :  '  Thou  knowest  that  wine  is  an 
abomination.  Thou  hast  taken  an  oath  as  to  strong  drink,  that 
thou  wouldst  not  take  such  into  thee.  Hast  thou  forgotten  thine 
oath?' 

"The  laws  of  the  Brahmins  of  India,  embodied  in  the  twelve! 


24  ALCOHOL  A  POISON. 

chapters  of  the  Institutes  of  Menu,  declare  that,  among  persons 
to  be  shunned  in  society  is  'a  drinker  of  intoxicating  spirits.' 

"  Zoroaster  declares  that  '  Temperance  is  the  strength  of  the 
mind  ;  a  man  is  dead  in  the  intoxication  of  wine.' 

"  The  Medes,  succeeding  to  the  Assyrian  or  Babylonian  king- 
dom, began  as  a  people  strictly  abstinent  from  intoxicating  wine. 
Their  degeneracy  through  luxury  is  portrayed  by  Xenophon  in 
his  'Training  of  Cyrus,'  in  a  picture  which  will  ever  be  quoted 
as  a  gem  of  graphic  sketching.  Young  Cyrus,  coming  from  his 
Persian  home  to  visit  his  grandfather,  Astyages,  King  of  Medea, 
came  to  have  a  moral  aversion  to  the  king's  cup-bearer,  because 
of  his  office.  The  king  remarking  upon  it,  Cyrus  proposed  to 
act  the  cup-bearer ;  and  with  a  napkin  on  his  shoulder  presented 
the  cup  to  the  king  with  a  studied  grace  that  charmed  the  fond 
old  man.  When,  however,  the  king  observed  that  young  Cyrus 
did  not,  before  presenting  the  cup,  first  pour  some  of  it  into  his 
left  hand  and  taste  it — a  custom  rendered  necessary  as  a 
safeguard  against  attempts  at  assassination  by  poison  put  into 
the  king's  wine-cup — Astyages  said,  'You  have  omitted  one 
essential  ceremony ;  that  of  tasting.'  'No,'  replied  Cyrus,  '  it 
was  not  from  forgetting  it  that  I  omitted  that  ceremony.'  '  For 
what,  then,'  asked  Astyages,  '  did  you  omit  it? '  '  Because,'  said 
Cyrus,  '  I  thought  there  was  poison  in  the  cup.'  '  Poison,  child  ! ' 
cried  the  king;  'how  could  you  think  so?'  'Yes,  poison, 
grandfather,  for  not  long  ago  at  a  banquet  which  you  gave  to 
your  courtiers,  after  the  guests  had  drunk  a  little  of  that  liquor, 
I  noticed  that  all  their  heads  were  turned ;  they  sang,  shouted 
and  talked  they  did  not  know  what,  and  even  you  yourself 
seemed  to  forget  that  you  were  king  and  they  were  subjects ; 
and  when  you  would  have  danced,  you  could  not  stand  on  your 
legs.'  'Why,'  asked  Astyages,  'have  you  never  seen  the  same 
happen  to  your  father?  '  'No,  never,'  said  Cyrus  (Cyrop.  B.  I.) 

"  Who  could  have  supposed  that  this  same  Cyrus  would  him- 
self be  led  to  what  was  and  still  is  called  the  temperate  use  of  wine, 
and  have  led  the  Persian  nation  into  a  habit  from  which  to  this 
day  they  have  not  even  as  Mohammedans  been  redeemed !  It 


ALCOHOL  A  POISON.  25 

is  worthy  of  special  note  that  the  very  point  of  the  English  con- 
troversy between  Dr.  F.  R.  Lees  and  Rev.  A.  M.  Wilson  turns 
on  the  early  abstinence  of  Cyrus  and  his  subsequent  yielding  to 
the  seduction  inseparable  from  high  position,  ease  and  luxury. 
The  same  Xenophon  records  that  Cyrus  in  his  manhood  said,  on 
a  long  march,  to  his  officers  :  '  Collect  wine  enough  to  accustom 
us  to  drink  only  water ;  for  most  of  the  way  is  destitute  of  wine. 
That  we  do  not,  therefore,  fall  into  disease  by  being  left  suddenly 
without  wine,  let  us  begin  at  once  to  drink  water  with  our  food ; 
after  each  meal  drink  a  little  wine ;  diminish  the  quantity  we 
drink  after  eating  until  we  insensibly  become  water  drinkers  :  for 
an  alteration  little  by  little  brings  any  one  to  bear  a  total  change  ' 
(Cyrop.  vi.  2 ) .  Xenophon,  himself,  a  little  later  in  life,  encour- 
ages his  troops  by  saying,  that  their  sobriety  made  them  an 
overmatch  for  their  wine-drinking  foes  (Cyrop.  vii.  5).  The 
lesson  is  manifest.  Herodotus  further  states  that  Cyrus  by 
strategy  overcame  the  fierce  Massagetae ;  enticing  the  young 
prince  and  his  officers,  at  a  banquet  given  them,  to  drink  deeply, 
while  he  and  his  generals  only  pretended  to  drink ;  and  then 
attacking  their  army  while  their  officers  were  intoxicated.  This 
unworthy  act  led  the  queen-mother  to  remonstrate  with  Cyrus  to 
this  .effect :  '  When  you  yourself  are  overcome  with  wine,  what 
follies  do  you  not  commit !  By  penetrating  your  bodies  it  makes 
your  language  more  insulting.  By  this  poison  you  have  con- 
quered my  son  ;  and  not  by  your  skill  or  your  bravery.' 

"  When  Alexander,  the  cultured  pupil  of  Aristotle,  transformed 
into  the  autocratic  military  conquerer,  was  seen  at  thirty  to  be 
in  danger  from  wine -drinking,  a  physician  named  Androcydes, 
Pliny  tells  us  (Nat.  Hist.  xiv.  5 )  wrote  to  him,  begging  him  to 
avoid  wine,  since  it  was  '  a  poison.' 

"  Pliny  closes  this  book  (c.  28)  with  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
of  total- abstinence  appeals  ever  penned  or  uttered.  'How 
strange,'  he  exclaims,  '  that  men  will  devote  such  labor  and 
expense  for  wine,  when  water,  as  is  seen  in  the  case  of  animals, 
is  the  most  healthful  (saluberrimum)  drink  ;  a  drink  supplied,  too, 

2 


26  ALCOHOL  A  POISON. 

by  nature;  while  wine  takes  away  reason  (mente),  engenders 
insanity,  leads  to  thousands  of  crimes,  and  imposes  such  an 
enormous  expense  on  nations.'  He  says  that  confirmed  drinkers 
1  through  fear  of  death  '  resulting  from  intoxication,  take  as  coun- 
teractives 'poisons  such  as  hemlock*  (cicutam},  and  'others 
which  it  would  be  shameful  to  name.'  'And  yet,'  asks  he,  '  why 
do  they  thus  act  ?  '  The  drunkard  never  sees  the  sunrise  ;  his 
life  by  drinking  is  shortened ;  from  wine  comes  that  pallid  hue, 
those  drooping  eyelids,  those  sore  eyes,  those  trembling  hands, 
....  sleep  made  hideous  by  furies  during  nights  of  restlessness ; 
and  as  the  crowning  penalty  of  intoxication  (prcemium  summum 
inebrietatis)  those  dreams  of  beastly  lust  whose  enjoyment  is 
forbidden.'  He  adds  that  many  ate  led  into  this  condition  '  by 
the  self-interested  advice  of  physicians  who  seek  to  commend 
themselves  by  some  novel  remedy.' 

Coming  down  to  the  second  century  in  the  writings  of  Pseudo 
Justin,  we  read : 

"  Wine  is  not  to  be  drank  daily  as  water Water  is 

necessary,  but  wine  only  as  a  medicine.  He  shows  the  absurdity 
of  the  plea  that  wine  heats  the  body  in  winter  and  cools  it  in 
summer ;  and  says  :  '  It  is  admitted  that  wine  is  a  deadly  poison  ' 
(pharmakon  thanasimori) .  In  using  it,  he  adds,  '  We  abuse 
the  work  of  God.' 

Clement  of  Alexandria,  who  lived  at  the  close  of  the  second 
century,  says : 

"I  admire  those  who  require  no  other  beverage  than  water, 
avoiding  wine  as  they  do  fire.  From  its  use  arise  excessive 
desires  and  licentious  conduct.  The  circulation  is  accelerated, 
and  the  body  inflames  the  soul." — Divine  Law  as  to  Wines. 

Coming  down  to  our  own  time,  we  know  of  no  standard  work 
on  the  effects  of  medicines  or  on  poisons  which  does  not  recog- 
nize alcohol  as  a  poison.  In  the  United  States  Dispensatory  we 
are  told  that:  "As  an  article  of  daily  use,  alcoholic  liquors 
produce  the  most  deplorable  consequences.  Besides  the  moral 
degradation  which  they  cause,  their  habitual  use  gives  rise  to 
dyspepsia,  hypochondriasis,  visceral  obstructions,  dropsy,  paraly- 


ALCOHOL  A  POISON.  27 

sis,  and  not  unfrequently  mania.  When  taken  in  large  quantities, 
alcohol,  in  the  various  forms  of  ardent  spirits,  produces  an  apo- 
plectic state,  and  occasionally  speedy  death  ;  the  face  becomes 
livid  or  pale,  the  respiration  stertorous,  and  the  mouth  frothy, and 
the  sense  and  feeling  are  more  or  less  completely  lost." 

All  books  on  medical  jurisprudence  treat  of  "Poisoning  by 
Alcohol,"  and  we  have  but  to  look  around  us  on  every  hand 
to  behold  the  sad  effects  of  this  poison.  We  have  brought  the 
testimony  of  the  ancient  writers  to  prove  that  fermented  wine 
was  by  them  regarded  as  a  poison,  and  it  was  a  poison  then  and 
now,  because  it  contained  alcohol. 

The  most  distinguished  English  authorities  declare  : 

"  We  have  all  been  in  error  in  recommending  wine  as  a  tonic. 
Ardent  spirits  and  poisons  are  convertible  terms." — Sir  As  f ley 
Cooper. 

'"  Reduction  of  animal  heat  is  the  special  action  of  this  poison." 
— Dr.  Richardson. 

"  Its  constant  use  in  moderation  injures  the  nervous  tissue,  and 
is  deleterious  to  health."  "A  man  may  very  materially  injure 
his  constitution  short  of  drunkenness,"  "It  degenerates  the 
tissues  and  impairs  the  intellect." — Sir  W.  Gull. 

While  even  the  Roman  Catholic  Cardinal  Manning,  of  Eng- 
land, urges  that  entire  abstinence  from  all  intoxicants  is  the  only 
hope  of  saving  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Celtic  races  from  physical 
degeneracy,  three  of  our  New  Church  periodicals  are  striving  to 
justify  the  use  of  intoxicating  wine  ;  and  one  of  them  even  advo- 
cates the  drinking  of  whisky,  which  Swedenborg  declares  a 
pernicious  drink ;  and  this,  notwithstanding  Swedenborg  com- 
pares such  wine  and  strong  drinks  as  cause  drunkenness  to 
falses  from  evil.  Alas  !  Alas  !  for  the  organized  New  Church. 
May  God  protect  it  from  the  fearful  evil  of  wine-drinking,  and 
consequently  from  drunkenness.  All  experience  shows,  as  well 
in  the  New  Church  as  in  other  churches,  and  among  Gen- 
tiles, that  so  long  as  intoxicating  wine,  having  its  origin,  as  we 
have  seen,  from  hell,  is  drank,  drunkenness,  folly,  wretchedness 
and  insanity  will  follow  in  a  fearful  number  of  cases ;  and  as  we 


28  ALCOHOL  A  POISON. 

shall  show  from  the  ablest  medical  testimony  in  the  world,  few,  if 
any,  will  ever  escape  unharmed  who  use  such  a  beverage,  how- 
ever moderately. 

Even  the  common  sense  of  the  world,  as  manifested  in  its 
poetry,  has  recognized  the  fact  that  wine  and  other  intoxicating 
drinks  are  poisons.  Shakspeare,  Milton,  and  Pope  repeatedly 
proclaim  this  most  important  truth,  in  lines  ever  memorable  : 

"  Bacchus  that  first  from  out  the  purple  grape 
Crushed  the  sweet  poison  of  misused  wine." 

"  Oh,  that  men  should  put  an  enemy  in 
Their  mouths  to  steal  their  brains !  " 

"  Oh,  thou  invisible  spirit  of  wine, 
If  thou  hast  no  name  to  be  called  by, 
Let  us  call  thee  devil !  " 

"  In  the  flowers  that  wreathe  the  sparkling  bowl 
Fell  adders  hiss,  and  poisonous  serpents  roll." 

"  The  brain  dances  to  the  maddening  bowl." 

"They  fancy  that  they  feel 
Divinity  within  them  breeding  wings." 

And  yet,  exclaims  the  Rev. ,  in  a  sermon  printed  in  a 

recent  number  of  the  Morning  Light : 

"  It  is  wrong  for  a  New  Churchman  to  teach  that  wine  and  other  liquids 
containing  alcohol  are  in  themselves  poisons." 

Wrong,  indeed,  is  it  to  teach  this  truth,  when  the  Word  of  the 
Lord,  the  writings  of  the  Church,  science  and  all  history,  teach 
that  such  liquids  are  the  most  fearful  and  destructive  of  all  poi- 
sons !  affording,  according  to  the  writings  of  the  New  Church,  a 
plane  for  influx  from  the  hells,  when  they  pollute,  disease,  and  kill 
both  body  and  soul.  Again,  says  our  reverend  brother  : 

"  If  the  question  now  be  asked,  How  may  we  as  New  Churchmen  best 
promote  the  cause  of  temperance  in  this  world?  The  answer  is  plain,  let 
every  New  Churchman  begin  with  himself,  and  let  him  resolve  solemnly 
never  to  exceed  the  limits  of  strict  temperance  in  the  use  of  fermented 
liquids." 


ALCOHOL  A  POISON.  29 

Does  not  the  reverend  gentleman  know,  with  the  example  of 
the  victims  of  such  habits  as  he  recommends  lying  all  around  him, 
that  no  young  man  ever  took  Iris  first  glass  of  intoxicating  wine 
without  resolving  never  to  become  a  drunkard  ;  but  that  step  by 
step  he  is  lured  on  by  this  seductive  fluid,  only  drinking  what  he 
finds  is  actually  necessary  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  his  appetite 
and  of  his  perverted  organization,  and  at  last  when  he  is  shocked 
and  angered  at  the  intimation  that  there  is  danger  of  his  becoming 
a  drunkard,  that  it  is  then  generally  too  late  ;  that  the  first  glass  has 
wrought  its  deadly  work,  and  he  is  no  longer  in  the  same  state  of 
freedom  as  when  he  took  that  ?  Does  the  reverend  gentleman  not 
know  that  every  drunkard,  who  is  not  absolutely  lost  to  all  sense 
of  right  and  shame,  after  he  has  had  a  drunken  spree,  or  delirium 
tremens,  during  which  his  stomach  has  revolted  at  the  approach 
of  renewed  potations  of  the  poison,  when  he  takes  his  first  glass, 
resolves,  oftentimes,  as  we  well  know,  with  prayers  and  supplica- 
tions to  the  Lord  for  help,  that  he  will  only  take  an  occasional 
glass — only  "drink  temperately?"  but  that  first  glass,  voluntarily 
taken,  affords  a  plane  for  influx  from  hell,  and  he  might  as  well 
attempt  to  stem  the  current  of  Niagara,  forty  feet  above  the 
cataract,  in  a  birch  bark  canoe,  as  to  attempt  to  stay  his  appetite 
until  he  has  had  another  drunken  bout. 

But  with  much  that  is  erroneous,  our  reverend  brother  states 
some  truths,  and  among  them  he  says : 

"  Our  allegiance  as  members  of  the  New  Church  is  due  to  the  truth,  to 
the  plain,  unvarnished  truth,  as  this  is  taught  in  the  letter  of  the  Divine 
Word,  illuminated  by  true  doctrine." 

But,  he  says  again  : 

"The  cause  of  intemperance  is  not  in  the  body,  but  in  the  spirit;  it  is,  in 
fact  an  outward  bodily  habit,  resulting  from  a  perverted  spiritual  state. 
Natural  drunkenness,  or  an  intoxicated  state  of  the  body  and  its  senses,  is 
injected  into  men  and  women  in  this  world  by  spirits  in  the  other  world 
who  are  in  a  state  of  spiritual  intoxication;  then  partaking  of  wine  or 
other  spirituous  liquids,  he  transgresses  the  limits  of  temperance  and 
becomes  intemperate." 

Cannot  our  New  Church  brother  see  that  this  statement,  as  a 


3°  ALCOHOL  A  POISON. 

**»"''.     -        1     *     -  ' 

whole,  as  lie  "presents  it  here,  and  elsewhere  in  his  sermon,  is 
not  correct?  The  natural  substances  around  us,  Swedenborg 
shows,  derive  their  very  quality  and  life  either  from  the  Lord  or 
from  hell.  All  substances  which  do  hurt  and  kill  men  originate 
from  hell,  we  are  told  by  the  Swedish  seer.  Now  it  should  be 
perfectly  clear  to  our  brother  that  natural  drunkenness  can  only 
be  caused  by  a  substance  or  fluid  which  is  a  natural  receptacle 
of,  and  derives  its  quality  and  life  from,  those  false  views  springing 
from  perverted  affections  which  constitute  spiritual  drunkenness, 
and  this  is  beyond  question  alcohol  in  some  form.  One-half,  more 
or  less,  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  never  use  intoxicating 
drinks,  and  there  is  not  a  single  drunkard  to  be  found  among 
this  25,000,000  of  people.  They  may  drink  all  the  water  or 
milk,  or  even  vinegar,  they  please ;  they  can  never  become 
drunkards,  so  long  as  they  abstain  from  alcohol  in  every  form. 
Many  of  them  may  be  spiritual  drunkards,  and  doubtless  some 
of  them  are,  but  they  are  not  natural  drunkards — not  one  of 
them — any  more  than  a  man  who  hates,  covets,  or  envies,  is  a 
natuial  murderer.  Before  he  becomes  a  murderer  he  must  use 
some  physical  agency  capable  of  killing  his  fellow-man,  it  may  be 
a  club,  pistol,  knife,  poison,  or  his  tongue,  by  uttering  foul  words 
of  slander ;  so  long  as  he  simply  hates,  and  never  uses  any  physi- 
cal instrumentality  for  killing  the  material  body,  he  can  never 
become  the  murderer  of  the  physical  body  of  man ;  and  hateful 
acts  do  not  always  kill  a  man,  any  more  than  the  use  of  intoxicat- 
ing drinks  always  cause  drunkenness,  or  kill  a  man ;  but  every 
hateful  act,  like  every  glass  containing  alcohol,  is  always  injurious 
to  the  man  who  indulges  in  such  perversions. 

It  is,  then,  only  when,  from  a  perverted  state  of  either  the  under- 
standing or  will,  the  man  forsakes  healthy  food,  which  nourishes 
and  cheers  without  exciting,  and  partakes  of  the  natural  symbols 
of  the  falses  which  cause  spiritual  drunkenness,  that  natural 
drunkenness  ever  ensues.  And  a  very  important  truth  should 
here  be  borne  in  mind  by  every  man  and  woman,  before  they 
allow  themselves  to  partake  of  intoxicating  drinks ;  and  that  is, 
that  neither  goodness,  intelligence,  nor  ignorance,  shields  any  one 


ALCOHOL  A  POISON. 

from  a  growing  appetite,  disease,  and  drunkenness,  who  partakes 
at  all  of  the  natural  substances  which  afford  a  plane  for  the  influx 
of  spirits  who  are  in  states  of  spiritual  drunkenness.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  the  individual  himself  should  be  in  such  a  state, 
for  the  same  quantity  of  fermented  wine  will  cause  drunkenness 
as  soon  in  the  case  of  a  good  and  intelligent  man,  as  with  an  evil 
and  ignorant  man.  The  serpent,  or  the  sensual  principle,  seduces 
man,  therefore  the  danger  of  wine-drinking.  The  advocates  for 
the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  seem  to  forget  these  great  truths ; 
and  further  that  there  can  be  no  spiritual  reformation  of  man, 
which  does  not  ultimate  itself  in  the  external  life  of  man. 
Drunkenness  can  never  cease  until  men  stop  drinking  intoxi- 
cating drinks,  as  all  history  proves,  any  more  than  murders  can 
cease  until  men  stop  using  deadly  instruments  and  bad  words. 
The  evil  must  first  be  resisted  in  external  act,  from  the  standpoint 
of  conscience ;  we  must  first  stop  doing  evil,  then  we  may  be 
able  to  stop  thinking,  and  only  after  that  can  we  stop  willing  evil. 
Such  is  the  order  of  regeneration  as  taught  in  the  writings  of  the 
New  Church.  Stop  drinking  intoxicating  drinks,  and  drunken- 
ness inevitably  ceases ;  and  such  evil  spirits  as  are  spiritual 
drunkards,  having  no  natural  medium  through  which  to  flow  into 
the  external  life  of  man,  men  will  be  left  in  freedom  from  such 
influx ;  and  then,  and  not  till  then,  we  may  hope  and  expect 
that  spiritual  drunkenness  will  begin  to  cease  on  earth ;  but  the 
work  must  commence  at  the  bottom,  on  the  natural  plane,  from 
spiritual  motives.  In  other  words,  we  must  shun  the  use  of 
those  drinks  which  cause  natural  drunkenness,  as  a  sin  against 
God  ;  their  use  violating  the  laws  of  health,  both  in  our  physical 
and  spiritual  organizations.  This  is  our  first  duty,  if  we  would 
avoid  either  natural  or  spiritual  drunkenness. 

Since  writing  the  above,  we  are  happy  to  find,  in  the  columns 
of  the  Morning  Light,  an  earnest  remonstrance  by  Mr.  T.  Platt, 
of  Burslem,  England,  against  the  promulgation  of  such  erroneous 
and  pernicious  views  on  this  subject  as  are  contained  in  the 
sermon  under  consideration.  We  will  add  the  closing  paragraph  : 

"The  good  - would  almost  seem  to  have  temper- 


32  ALCOHOL  A  POISON. 

ance  work  upside  down  in  his  mind.  The  abstainer  has  seen  the 
fiend,  conscience  has  felt  the  sin  before  heaven,  and  the  internal 
bond  of  a  high,  holy,  and  pure  resolve  has  ultimated  itself  in  the 
external  vow  and  work  for  the  dethronement  of  the  demon,  and 
its  banishment  by  prohibition,  if  possible,  from  inside  of  old 
England's  -national  cup  and  platter,  that  the  outside  thereof  may 
also  be  clean  and  fair  to  the  eyes  of  the  peoples  of  the  earth. 
Thousands  of  honest  men  and  true  have  coupled  true  temperance 
with  a  sincere  acknowledgment  of  the  Lord's  truth  and  power, 
and  have  thereby  overcome  its  spiritual  cause !  The  text 
(resplendent  in  its  own  truth) ,  but  ill-aimed  for  once  from  the 
discourse  it  was  to  give  effect  to,  merely  glances  along  the  pre- 
cipitous heights  of  moderation,  but  touches  not  the  temperance 
tower  of  refuge,  which,  basking  in  the  warm  rays  of  love  to  God 
and  man,  still  stands  a  mighty  reclaiming  power  from  that  spirit 
of  evil  whose  potent  spell  '  unmans  man,  unwomans  woman,  turns 
the  mother's  milk  into  a  monster's  venom,  fires  men  to  do  things 
they  would  revolt  from  in  their  serener  moments,'  and,  let  me 
add,  peoples  the  hells  !  Permit  me,  then,  with  the  memory  of 
a  sire  a  victim  to  the  curse,  the  cares  of  a  ruined  family  devolving 
upon  me  in  consequence,  the  still  uneffaced  years  of  misery  which 
marked  the  track  from  the  'allowed*  moderation  to  a  grave  as 

yet  scarcely  closed,  to  appeal  to in  the  name  of  love 

and  pity  not  to  again  publish  a  discourse  on  this  question  which 
may  be  grasped  as  an  excuse  by  some  poor  brother  unconsciously 
nearing  the  dreadful  vortex  !  There  is,  alas  !  too  much  truth  in 
the  homely  lines  of  the  Preston  poet,  who  wrote — 

'  Ye  men  of  sups  and  little  drops, 

Ye  moderation  muddlers, 
Ye  are  the  men  that  raised  the  seed 
Of  regular  drunken  fuddlers.'  " 

MODERATION   FALLACY. 

In  concluding  what  we  have  to  say  of  alcohol  and  fermented 
drinks,  as  poisons,  we  cannot  do  better  than  quote  a  few  passages 
from  the  writings  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Richardson,  of  England,  who, 


ALCOHOL  A  POISON.  33 

has  unquestionably  observed  and  experimented  more  carefully, 
and  for  a  longer  period  of  time,  on  the  action  of  alcoholic  drinks 
on  the  body  and  mind  than  any  other  man.  Speaking  of  "  The 
Moderation  Fallacy,"  he  says  : 

"  This  thought  leads  me  to  add  a  word  on  what  is  called  the 
practice  of  moderation  in  the  use  of  alcohol.  I  believe  the 
Church  of  England  Temperance  Association  is  divided  by  two 
lines,  one  of  which  marks  off  total  abstainers,  the  other  moderate 
indulgers.  I  am  one  of  those  who  have  once  been  bitten  by 
the  plea  of  moderate  indulgence.  Mr.  Worldly  Wiseman,  with 
his  usual  industry,  tapped  me  on  the  shoulder,  as  he  does  every 
man,  and  held  a  long  and  plausible  palaver  on  this  very  subject. 
If  I  had  not  been  a  physician  he  might  have  converted  me.  But 
side  by  side  with  his  wisdom  there  came  fortunately  the  knowl- 
edge which  I  could  not,  dare  not,  ignore,  that  the  mere 
moderate  man  is  never  safe,  neither  in  the  counsel  he  gives  to. 
others,  nor  in  the  practice  he  follows  for  himself.  Furthermore, 
I  observe  as  a  physiological,  or  perhaps,  psychological,  fact,  that 
the  attraction  of  alcohol  for  itself  is  cumulative.  That  so  long  as 
it  is  present  in  a  human  body,  even  in  small  quantities,  the  long- 
ing for  it,  the  sense  of  requirement  for  it,  is  present,  and  that  as 
the  amount  of  it  insidiously  increases,  so  does  the  desire. 

"  The  mere  question  of  the  destructive  effect  of  alcohol  on 
the  membranes  of  the  body  alone  would  be  a  sufficient  study  for 
an  address  on  the  mischiefs  of  it.  I  can  not  define  it  better, 
indeed,  than  to  say  that  it  is  an  agent  as  potent  for  evil  as  it  is 
helpless  for  good.  It  begins  by  destroying,  it  ends  by  destruc- 
tion, and  it  implants  organic  changes  which  progress  independ- 
ently of  its  presence  even  in  those  who  are  not  born. 

"  In  my  address  delivered  last  year  in  the  Sheldonian  Theatre, 
at  Oxford,  I  spoke  almost  exclusively  on  the  facts  connected 
with  the  action  of  alcohol  on  the  body.  It  seems  to  me  befitt- 
ing, if  on  the  present  occasion  I  touch  more  particularly  on  the 
facts  connected  with  the  action  of  alcohol  on  the  mind.  Before, 
however,  I  pass  to  this  particular  topic,  it  may  be  advisable  to 
epitomize  the  matter  of  the  Oxford  essay,  so  that  those,  and  they 


34  ALCOHOL  A  POISON. 

must  be  many  here,  who  have  not  read  that  essay,  may  follow 
the  present  argument  dealing  with  mental  phenomena,  from  the 
argument  which  was  based  on  the  study  of  physical  phenomena. 

"In  that  essay  I  endeavored  to  show  from  the  experimental 
evidence  I  had  previously  collected,  that  alcohol,  when  it  finds 
its  way  into  the  living  body,  interferes  with  the  oxidation  of  the 
blood ;  that  it  interferes  with  the  natural  motion  of  the  heart ; 
that  it  produces  a  paralyzing  effect  on  the  minute  circulation  of 
the  blood  at  the  point  of  the  circulation  where  the  quantity  of 
the  blood  admissible  into  the  tissues  ought  to  be  duly  regulated ; 
that  habitually  used  in  what  some — indeed,  the  majority  of  those 
who  indulge  in  alcoholic  drinks — consider  a  moderate  quantity, 
it  impedes  the  digestive  power ;  that  it  induces  organic  changes 
ending  in  organic  diseases  of  vital  organs,  such  as  the  liver  and 
kidneys  ;  that  it  leads  to  similar  changes  in  the  great  nervous  cen- 
tres, and  to  destruction  of  nervous  function,  ending  in  paralysis. 

"  I  further  indicated,  in  the  address  to  which  I  refer,  that 
alcohol  has  no  claim  whatever  to  be  considered  a  supporter  of 
the  animal  temperature,  and  no  claim  whatever  to  be  thought  a 
supporter  of  muscular  power.  On  the  contrary,  that,  from  the 
moment  a  physiological  effect  is  produced  in  the  body  by  alcohol 
and  onward,  so  long  as  the  effect  is  kept  up  by  the  addition  of 
the  agent  to  the  body,  the  animal  heat,  the  nervous  control  over 
the  muscles,  and  the  independent  power  resident  in  the  muscles 
themselves,  begin  and  continue  to  decline,  until  at  last  the  body, 
cold  and  senseless,  falls  to  the  ground,  checked  only  by  its  own 
utter  helplessness,  and,  as  it  were,  living  death,  from  imbibing  the 
last  drops  that  would  make  the  death  absolute.  From  all  these 
facts  I  reasoned  that  alcohol  could  not,  in  any  sense  whatever, 
be,  scientifically,  set  down  as  a  food  for  man  or  any  other  ani- 
mal ;  that  it  could  not  be  set  down  as  a  necessity  for  man  or  any 
other  animal ;  that,  useless  as  food,  it  is  mischievous  as  a  luxury  ; 
and  that,  indulged  in  as  a  luxury,  it  is  far  too  dangerous  a  destroyer 
to  be  entrusted  to  the  general  management  of  mankind,  or  to  the 
hands  of  those  who,  because  of  its  luxurious  temptations,  fall 
under  its  power. 


ALCOkOL  A  POISON.  35 

ACTION    OF   ALCOHOL   ON   THE    MIND. 

"  As  I  have  moved  among  those  who  are  physically  stricken 
with  alcohol,  and  have  detected  under  the  various  dis- 
guises of  name  the  fatal  diseases,  the  pains  and  penalties  it 
imposes  on  the  body,  the  picture  has  been  sufficiently  cruel. 
But  even  that  picture  pales  as  I  conjure  up,  without  any  stretch 
of  imagination,  the  devastations  which  the  same  agent  inflicts  on 
the  mind.  Forty  per  cent.,  the  learned  superintendent  of 
Colney  Hatch,  Dr.  Shepherd,  tells  us,  forty  per  cent,  of  those 
who  were  brought  into  that  asylum  during  the  year  1876,  were 
so  brought  because  of  the  direct  or  indirect  effects  of  alcohol. 
If  the  facts  of  all  the  asylums  were  collected  with  equal  care, 
the  same  tale  would,  I  fear,  be  told.  What  need  we  further  to 
show  the  destructive  action  of  this  one  instrument  of  destruction 
on  the  human  mind  ?  The  Pandemonium  of  drunkards :  the 
grand  transformation  scene  of  that  pantomime  of  drink,  which 
commences  with  moderation  !  Let  it  be  nevermore  forgotten  by 
those  who  love  their  fellow-men  until,  through  their  efforts,  it  is 
closed  for  ever. 

"  For  the  work  that  comes  of  the  mind  and  that  comes  out 
under  pressure,  no  taste  of  alcoholic  stimulation  is  necessary. 
Every  such  taste  is  a  self-inflicted  injury,  and,  what  is  more,  an 
accumulating  injury.  The  dose  of  alcohol  which  spurred  the 
thought  of  to-day  must  be  slightly  increased  to  spur  the  thought 
of  to-morrow  to  the  same  pitch.  So  on  and  on  the  evil  goes, 
until  at  last  the  simple,  and,  as  it  was  called,  harmless  dose,  rises 
to  the  poisonous  dose ;  until,  with  unnerved  limbs,  faltering 
memory,  dull,  imagination,  estranged  feeling,  enfeebled  or  even 
dismantled  reason,  the  victim  falls.  Of  all  men,  brain-workers 
are  the  men  least  able  to  bear  up  against  the  ravages  of  alcohol. 
Of  all  men  they  are  the  most  liable  to  be  deceived  and  played 
upon  by  this  traitor,  who  enters  the  most  precious  treasury,  the 
citadel  of  the  mind.  I  hold  that  man  as  prematurely  mad  who 
defends  the  use  of  alcohol  for  himself  on  this  ground  of  neces- 
sity. I  hold  that  man  as  criminally  mad  who,  knowingly, 
prescribes  alcohol  on  this  foundation. 


3 6  ALCOHOL  A  POISON. 

"  On  the  other  side  the  experience  is  unfortunately  overwhelm- 
ing in  favor  of  the  observation  that  the  use  of  alcohol  dulls  the 
reasoning  power,  makes  weak  men  and  women  the  easy  prey  of 
the  wicked  and  strong,  and  leads  men  and  women  who  should 
know  better  into  every  grade  of  misery  and  vice.  It  is  not  poor 
repenting  Cassio  alone  who  cries  out  in  agony  of  despair,  '  Oh, 
that  a  man  should  put  an  enemy  into  his  mouth  to  steal  away 
his  brains  !'  It  is  thousands  upon  thousands  of  Cassios  who  say 
the  same  thought,  if  not  the  same  words,  every  day,  every  hour. 
I  doubt,  indeed,  whether  there  is  a  single  man  or  woman  who 
indulges  or  who  has  indulged  in  alcohol  who  could  not  truth- 
fally  say  the  same  ;  who  could  not  wish  that  something  he  had 
unreasonably  said  or  expressed  under  the  excitation  of  alcohol 
had  not  been  given  forth. 

"  If,  then,  alcohol  enfeebles  the  reason,  what  part  of  the  mental 
constitution  does  it  exalt  and  excite  ?  It  exalts  and  excites  those 
animal,  organic,  emotional  centres  of  mind  which,  in  the  dual 
nature  of  man,  so  often  cross  and  oppose  that  pure  and  abstract 
reasoning  nature  which  lifts  man  above  the  lower  animals,  and, 
rightly  exercised,  little  lower  than  the  angels.  Exciting  these 
animal  centres,  it  lets  loose  all  the  passions,  and  gives  them  more 
or  less  of  unlicensed  domination  over  the  whole  man.  It  excites 
anger,  and  when  it  does  not  lead  to  this  extreme,  it  keeps  the 
mind  fretful,  irritable,  dissatisfied,  captious.  The  flushed  face  of 
the  red-hot  angry  man,  how  like  it  is  to  the  flushed  face  of  the 
man  in  the  first  stage  of  alcoholic  intoxication.  The  face,  white 
with  rage,  and  the  tremulous,  agitated  muscles  of  the  body,  how 
like  both  are  to  the  pale  face  and  helpless  muscles  of  the  man 
deep  in  intoxication  from  alcohol.  The  states  are  not  simply 
similar,  they  are  identical,  and  the  one  will  feed  the  other." 

The  young  man  in  his  path  of  life  has  no  worse  enemies  to 
encounter  than  temperate  drinkers,  more  aptly  named  by  an 
Irishman  who  had  himself  once  been  one  of  them,  "Beginners," 
and  Dr.  Crosby's  temperance  society  the  "beginners'  society." 
The  influence  of  the  drunkard  on  the  young  amounts  to  little ; 
but  that  of  the  beginner  may  be  fearfully  destructive.  Well  did 


ALCOHOL  A  POISON.  37 

the  wise  men  of  old  advise,  that  the  society  of  such  should  be 
shunned. 

It  is  well  known  to  medical  men  that  a  man  may  have  delirium 
tremens,  and  die  from  this  disease,  without  ever  having  been  what 
the  temperate  drinker  calls  drunk.  Even  clergymen  not  unfre- 
quently  witness  such  cases.  Says  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Van  Buren : 

"  I  have  in  my  knowledge  two  cases  of  men  dying  from  delirium  tremcns 
who  were  never  known  to  be  drunk;  steady  moderate  drinking  was  the 
cause." 

Are  such  men  drunkards,  or  are  they  not  ?  Can  any  one  tell 
us  where  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the  so-called  temperate 
drinker  and  the  drunkard  lies  ?  Surely  the  chief  responsibility 
for  the  drunkenness  in  the  world  lies  with  the  "beginners,"  for 
if  men  never  begin  to  drink,  the  race  of  drunkards  will  soon  be 
extinct. 

Speaking  of  those  who  attempt  to  justify  the  use  of  intoxicat- 
ing wines  from  the  Bible,  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Van  Buren,  in  his 
excellent  work  on  Gospel  Temperance,  says  : 

"  One  stands  appalled  who  thinks  of  the  destruction  of  multitudes  of  our 
youth  by  the  teaching  and  example  of  such  men." 

It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  pervert  the  truths  of  the  letter  of  the  Word, 
and  the  Revelations  of  the  New  Church,  for  the  justification  of  the 
gratification  of  our  perverted  appetites  and  passions  ;  and  espe- 
cially to  teach  others  that  such  gratifications  are  right,  and  thus  to 
lead  the  inexperienced  into  such  perversions.  The  writer  desires 
to  call  the  attention  of  such  of  his  brethren  as  use,  justify, and 
advocate  the  use  of  fermented  wines  and  other  intoxicating 
drinks,  to  the  following  statement  of  Swedenborg  : 

"  That  the  insanity  signified  by  inebriation  and  by  drunken- 
ness in  the  Word  is  not  from  falses,  but  from  truths  falsified." — 
(Swedenborg's  Index  to  the  A.  E.  1035.) 


CHAPTER      III. 

TWO  KINDS  OF  WINE. 

THAT  there  are  two  kinds  of  wine  spoken  of  in  the  letter  of  the 
Bible  and  in  the  writings  of  the  New  Church,  the  one  always 
good  and  the  other  always  evil  and  pernicious,  will  be  evident 
to  every  reader  who,  without  preconceived  opinions,  carefully 
reads  his  Bible  and  the  Writings  of  Swedenborg.  It  is  now, 
as  we  intimated  in  our  tract  with  a  few  illustrations,  perfectly 
clear,  that  during  all  the  various  periods  when  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  were  written,  the  ancients  were  in  the  habit  of  pre- 
paring two  kinds  of  wine,  both  of  which  were  called  wine  ; 
one  kind  fermented  and  intoxicating,  and  the  other  unfer- 
mented,  and  consequently  unintoxicating ;  which  was  not  only 
harmless,  but  a  healthy  and  nutritious  drink,  and  abundantly 
capable  of  making  glad  the  unperverted  heart  of  man.  They 
also  prepared  a  great  variety  of  unfermented  or  unintoxicating 
wine ;  and  by  a  great  variety  of  methods  which  are  carefully 
described  by  ancient  writers,  to  three  of  which  we  alluded  in  our 
former  tract.  And,  further,  it  is  now  evident  that  their  best  and 
most  celebrated  old  wines  were  generally,  if  not  always,  unfermented 
wines.  They  had  no  distilled  spirits  to  add  to  their  wines  to 
preserve  them,  as  we  have  at  this  day,  consequently,  even  if  they 
had  a  desire  to  preserve  their  fermented  wine,  they  would  have 
found  it  difficult,  with  their  imperfect  vessels  and  casks,  to  have 
done  so  ;  for  fermented  wine,  if  not  most  carefully  excluded  from 
the  air,  so  readily  passes  into  vinegar,  especially  in  warm 
climates ;  whereas  they  had  no  difficulty  in  preparing  unfer- 
mented wine  so  that  it  would  keep  for  years,  and  even  for 
centuries,  as  we  shall  see  from  the  testimony  of  ancient  authors. 

Now,  kind  reader,  stop  a  moment  and  reflect.     Here  is  a  view 
of  the  wine  question,  abundantly  sustained  by  the   testimony 


TWO  KINDS  OI<   WIXE.  39 

of  disinterested  ancient  authors,  and  of  the  most  distin- 
guished writers  of  the  early  Christian  Church,  which  recon- 
ciles all  apparent  contradictions  to  be  found  in  the  Bible  and  in 
the  Writings  of  Swedenborg ;  and  we  ask,  in  view  of  the  terrible 
evils  you  see  around  you,  is  it  not  worthy  of  your  most  serious 
and  prayerful  consideration  ?  It  is  evident  that  there  is  no  evil 
of  external  life  so  fearful  in  its  consequences  upon  our  race  as 
the  drinking  of  intoxicating  wines.  Consider  the  unnatural  and 
depraved  excitement,  the  diseases,  and  drunkenness  which  arise 
therefrom  as  naturally  as  a  stream  flows  from  its  fountain.  Is  it 
not  a  duty  which  we  owe  to  the  Lord,  our  fellow- man  and  to 
ourselves,  to  examine  this  subject? 

TWO     KINDS     OF  WINE     RECOGNIZED     IN    THE   WORD    OF   THE    LORD, 
BOTH   SPIRITUALLY   AND   NATURALLY. 

If  there  are  two  kinds  of  spiritual  wine  recognized  in  the  Word 
of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  writings  of  the  New  Church,  we  have  a 
right  to  look  for  two  kinds  of  natural  wine  ;  for  the  philosophy  of 
the  New  Church  teaches  us  that  the  spiritual  u  ever  in  the 
effort  to  ultimate  itself  in  the  natural.  Then  to  the  law  and 
testimony : 

"Wine  and  blood  of  grapes."  (Gen.  xlix.  n.)  "Wine  here," 
says  Swedenborg,  "  denotes  what  is  spiritual  from  a  celestial 
origin,"  or  " essential  faith."  (A.  C.  1071.)  "Wine  in  the  Holy 
Supper  signifies  the  divine  truth  of  the  Lord's  divine  wisdom." 
(U.  T.  711.)  There  is  no  difficulty  in  bringing  a  large  number 
of  quotations,  both  from  the  Word  and  the  Writings  of  Sweden- 
borg, to  show  thai;  good  wine  has  a  good  signification  ;  and  is  in 
every  way  a  safe,  good,  and  useful  drink.  This  is  admitted  by  all, 
therefore  further  illustrations  at  present  are  unnecessary,  as  there 
is  no  controversy  on  this  point.  But  here,  one  class  of  New 
Church  writers  and  teachers  assume  that  there  is  but  one  kind  of 
wine  spoken  of  in  the  Word ;  and  that  is  a  good  wine,  having  a 
good  correspondence ;  and  that  it  is  never  evil,  or  a  poison  in 
itself;  but  that  it  may  become  injurious,  if  excessively  used,  like 
any  other  healthy  article  of  drink.  But  another  class  of  teachers 


4°  TWO  KINDS  OF  WINE. 

and  writers,  and  among  them  the  present  writer,  claim  that  there 
are  two  kinds  of  wine  ;  one  unleavened,  good  and  harmless, 
always  having  a  good  signification  ;  the  other  leavened,  poison- 
ous, and  destructive,  always  having  an  evil  signification  when 
mentioned  in  the  Word  of  the  Lord.  "  In  all  the  passages  where 
good  wine  is  named,  there  is  no  lisp  of  warning,  no  intimation 
of  danger,  no  hint  of  disapprobation,  but  always  of  decided 
approval.  How  bold  and  strongly  marked  is  the  contrast : 

The  one  the  cause  of  intoxication,  of  violence,  and  of  woes. 

The  other  the  occasion  of  comfort  and  of  peace. 

The  one  the  cause  of  irreligion  and  of  self-destruction. 

The  other  the  devout  offering  of  piety  on  the  altar  of  God. 

The  one  the  symbol  of  the  divine  wrath. 

The  other  the  symbol  of  spiritual  blessings. 

The  one  the  emblem  of  eternal  damnation. 

The  other  the  emblem  of  eternal  salvation." — Bible  Wines. 

"The  distinction  in  quality  between  the  good  and  the  bad 
wine  is  as  clear  as  that  between  good  and  bad  men,  or  good  and 
bad  wives,  or  good  and  bad  spirits  ;  for  one  is  the  constant  sub- 
ject of  warning,  designated  poison  literally,  analogically,  and 
figuratively,  while  the  other  is  commended  as  refreshing  and 
innocent,  which  no  alcoholic  wine  is." — Lees'  Appendix  (p.  232). 

And  we  shall  find  that  this  view  is  abundantly  sustained  by 
the  Writings  of  Swedenborg.  He  says,  "  Whereas  several  expres- 
sions in  the  Word  have  also  a  contrary  sense,  so  also  has  wine  ; 
in  which  sense  it  signifies  the  false  principle  derived  from  evil." 
(A.  C.  6377.)  And,  in  strict  harmony  with  this,  he  says  :  "The 
wine  of  fornication  spoken  of  by  Saint  John  the  Revelator 
signifies  the  adulterated  truths  of  faith,  whereof  drunkenness  is 
predicated."  (A.  C.  1072.)  Again,  "  By  the  wine  of  the  fury  and 
the  wrath  of  God  (Rev.  xix.)  are  signified  the  goods  and  truths 
of  the  Church,  which  are  from  the  Word,  profaned  and  adul- 
terated, and  therefore  the  evils  and  falses  of  the  Church."  But, 
say  the  advocates  of  fermented  wine,  this  refers  to  spiritual  wine 
and  not  to  natural  wine.  Grant  it,  but  have  we  no  evidence 
that  there  is  a  corresponding  material  wine,  which  is  an  outbirth 


TWO  KINDS  OF  WINE.  41 

from  such  spiritual  wine ;  and  which  therefore  necessarily  pro- 
duces similar  effects  on  the  body  and  mind  of  man,  when  he 
drinks  it,  that  the  above-named  spiritual  wine  does  upon  his 
spirit  when  he  adulterates  the  truths  of  faith  and  appropriates 
such  adulterated  truths  to  his  life  ?  Can  we,  as  rational  beings, 
infer  that  there  is  no  difference  between  the  good  wine  of  which 
we  are  told  to  "drink  abundantly," — "wine  which,"  we  are  told 
in  Judges  ix.  13,  "cheereth  God  and  man,"  and  of  which  our 
Lord  said  at  the  Last  Supper,  "  drink  ye  all  of  it," — and  the  wine, 
which  we  are  told  in  Deut.  xxxii.  33,  "  is  the  poison  of  dragons, 
and  the  cruel  venom  of  asps  ;" — the  wine  of  which  we  are  told  in 
Jeremiah  li.  7,  "the  nations  have  drank,"  "therefore  the  nations 
are  mad,"  or  the  wine  which  we  are  told  in  Prov.  xx.  i,  that  it 
"  is  a  mocker,  and  that  it  biteth  like  a  serpent  and  stingeth  like 
an  adder?"  As  the  Proverbs  have  not  a  spiritual  sense,  tne  advo- 
cates for  fermented  wine  cannot  claim  that  this  refers  to  spiritual 
wine,  and  we  think  that  they  will  agree  with  the  writer  that  the 
author  of  Proverbs  did  not  here  refer  t®  unfermented  wine  ;  but 
we  fancy  that  every  one  cannot  but  see  that  he  did  refer  to 
fermented  wine ;  for  we  can  see  that,  although  the  language  is 
figurative,  yet  as  such  it  most  accurately  describes  the  effects  of 
fermented  wine  on  the  mind  and  body  of  man. 

But  Swedenborg  does  not  leave  us  in  doubt  as  to  there  being 
two  kinds  of  wine,  one  good  and  the  other  bad,  for  he  says  : 
"  Falses  from  evil  may  be  compared  to  such  wine  and  strong 
drinks  as  induce  drunkenness."  (A.  £.1035.)  It  is  not  the  use 
or  abuse,  but  the  article  itself  which  is  compared  to  falses  from 
evil.  It  is  its  inherent  quality,  clearly  described  by  its  effects  on 
the  human  body  and  mind.  "By  wine,"  says  Swedenborg, 
"is  signified  truth  from  heaven,  and  in  the  opposite  sense  the 
false  from  hell."  (A.  E.  1046.)  Good  wine  has  always  a  good 
use  ;  it  may  be  abused ;  but  abuse,  Swedenborg  tells  us  does  not 
take  away  use,  excepting  in  those  who  abuse  it ;  therefore,  the 
wine  itself,  which  signifies  truth  from  heaven  when  unpolluted, 
can  never  signify  "  the  false  from  hell,"  but  the  abuse  of  it  pos- 
sibly may.  We  repeat,  it  is  of  the  wine  he  speaks  in  the  above 


42  TWO  KINDS  OF  WINE. 

language,  and  not  of  its  abuse.  That  it  is  not  good  wine  which 
signifies  the  false  from  hell ;  but  such  wine  as  has  been  perverted 
and  polluted  by  ferment  which  we  are  told  signifies  "the  false 
of  evil"  (D.  P.  284)  will  be  clearly  seen  by  the  above  quotation 
and  others  we  have  already  made,  and  shall  hereafter  make  from 
the  Writings  of  S wedenborg.  Again,  Swedcnborg  says  : 

" '  The  same  shall  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  anger  of  God,  mixed 
pure  in  the  cup  of  his  wrath.'  That  hereby  is  signified  appro- 
priation of  the  false  and  evil  thence  derived,  conjoined  with 
falsified  truths  from  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word,  appears  from 
the  signification  of  drinking,  as  denoting  to  imbue  and  appro- 
priate to  themselves ;  and  from  the  signification  of  wine,  as 
denoting  truth  from  good,  and  in  the  opposite  sense  the  false 
from  evil.  *  *  *  In  this  case,  therefore,  by  drinking  the  wine 
of  the  anger  of  God,  is  signified  the  imbuing  and  appropriation  of 
the  false  and  evil  thence  derived  *  *  *  and  from  the  signi- 
fication of  being  mixed  pure,  as  denoting  to  be  conjoined  with 
falsified  truths.  *  *  «  *  From  these  considerations  it  is 
evident  that,  by  wine  mixed  pure  in  the  cup  of  the  anger  of  God, 
is  signified  conjunction  with  falsified  truths  of  the  literal  sense  of 
the  Word.  *  *  *  The  reason  why  being  mixed  pure 
signifies  to  be  conjoined  with  falsified  truths  of  the  Word  is, 
because  by  pure  [wine]  is  meant  wine  which  is  inebriating ;  and 
thence  inebriation,  consequently,  in  the  spiritual  sense,  delirium  in 
truths  by  falses,  for  delirium  in  truth  by  falses  is  spiritual  inebria- 
tion." (A.  E.  887.)  There  is  no  known  substance  on  earth  which 
will  with  so  much  certainty  and  so  uniformly  cause  natural  deli- 
rium as  fermented  wine  and  other  liquids  which  contain  alcohol, 
that  "prince  of  poisons."  How  clearly,  from  its  effects  alone  on 
man  when  he  uses  it,  we  may  know  that  it  corresponds  to  "  falses 
from  evil ;"  and  the  delirium  which  it  causes  to  the  "delirium  in 
truths  by  falses  !"  We  repeat,  there  is  no  healthy  food  on  earth 
which,  like  alcoholic  wine,  and  other  fluids  containing  alcohol, 
causes  delirium  when  freely  used — alcohol  always  does  this ; 
healthy  food  never.  This  fact  alone,  it  would  seem,  ought  to 
convince  any  intelligent  New  Churchman  that  it  has  its  origin 


TWO  KINDS  OF  WINE.  43 

from  hell,  and  not  from  the  Lord.  What  can  be  clearer  than 
this  ?  Owing,  doubtless,  to  the  fact  that  a  very  different  mean- 
ing is  attached  to  the  word  pure  wine  at  this  day,  from  the 
original  meaning  of  the  word  as  it  was  used  in  the  passage  under 
consideration ;  and,  apparently,  lest  his  readers  should  therefore 
mistake  the  present  meaning  for  the  original  meaning,  Sweden- 
borg  goes  on  to  explain  in  the  following  language  :  "The  word 
also  by  which  pure  wine  \_merum~\  is  expressed  in  the  original 
tongue  is  derived  from  a  word  which  signifies  to  be  inebriated, 
inasmuch  as  this  is  signified  by  pure  wine  \mtrum\  and  they 
who  falsify  the  word  are  spiritually  inebriated,  that  is,  are  deliri- 
ous as  to  truths,  therefore  in  the  two  passages  where  pure  wine 
\merum~\  is  mentioned  in  the  Word,  the  subject  treated  of  is 
concerning  the  falsification  of  truth,  as  in  the  prophecies  of 
Isaiah  and  Hosea.  'How  hath  the  faithful  city  become  a 
harlot ;  full  of  judgment,  justice  lodgeth  in  her,  but  now  homi- 
cides :  thy  silver  hath  become  dross,  thy  pure  wine  \merum\ 
mixed  with  water'  (Isaiah  i.  21-22).  *  *  *  The  pure 
wine  \_merum~\  mixed  with  water  signifies  truth  made  vile,  and 
destroyed  by  the  falsification  thereof."  (A.  E.  887.) 

We  know  that  fermented  wine  and  other  intoxicating  drinks 
cause  delirium  and  insanity,  and  that  of  the  most  fearful 
character ;  and  we  know  that  healthy  fluids  have  never  this 
specific  effect,  as  we  have  already  said  ;  and  we  know  also  that 
spiritual  truth  when  unperverted  never  causes  spiritual  delirium  ; 
how,  then,  is  it  possible  for  a  natural  fluid,  which  legitimately 
corresponds  to  spiritual  truth,  to  ever  cause  natural  delirium,  and 
that  of  a  specific  character  like  that  from  alcohol,  character- 
istic of  the  article  used?  Our  friends  who  advocate  the  use 
of  intoxicating  wines  and  whisky  seem  to  forget  the  philosophy 
of  the  New  Church  and  the  science  of  correspondences, 
which  are  so  clearly  and  beautifully  taught  in  the  Writings  of 
Swedenborg.  They  seem  to  forget  that:  "The  real  case  is, 
that  in  even  the  minutest  things  in  nature  and  in  her  three 
kingdoms,  the  intrinsic  agent  is  from  the  spiritual  world,  and 
unless  such  an  active  principle  from  that  world  was  therein, 


44  TWO  KINDS  OF  WINE. 

nothing  at  all  in  the  natural  world  could  act  as  cause  and  effect, 
consequently  nothing  could  be  produced."  (A.  C.  5173.)  It 
is,  therefore,  perfectly  clear  that  no  article  of  food  or  drink  can 
ever  cause  delirium,  as  does  alcohol,  which  has  not  an  active 
spiritual  principle  from  hell,  the  home  of  insane  and  delirious 
spirits. 

A  New  Church  clergyman,  who  is  an  earnest  advocate  of  total 
abstinence  from  intoxicating  drinks,  has  just  sent  the  writer  the 
following  selection  front  the  Writings  of  Swedenborg.  with  the 
comments  attached : 

"  Inasmuch  as  drunkenness  was  a  type  of  insanity  in  regard  to  truths  of 
faith,  therefore  it  was  also  made  a  representative,  .and  this  prohibition  was 
given  to  Aaron :  *  Do  not  drink  wine,  nor  drink  that  maketh  drunken, 
thou,nor  thy  sons  with  thee,  when  ye  go  into  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congre- 
gation, lest  ye  die ;  — that  ye  may  put  a  difference  between  holy  and  unholy, 
and  between  unclean  and  clean.' — Levit.  x.  8-9.  (A.  C.  1072.) 

"This  passage,'  remarks  our  reverend  correspondent,  'I  think  conclu- 
sive proof — especially  with  those  who  believe  the  Word  to  be  the  sole  basis 
of  doctrine  for  the  New  Church." ' 

It  is  certain  that  the  above  passage  distinctly  marks  a  wine  and 
strong  drink  that  were  forbidden  the  priests  when  they  officiated 
in  the  service  of  the  sanctuary.  There  can  be  no  mistaking  the 
r  kind  of  wine  and  strong  drink  referred  to  here.  They  are  such 
as  make  men  drunken.  But  we  know  that  there  are  wines  and 
strong  drinks  which  are  never  unholy  or  unclean — wines  every 
way  suitable  for  use  in  the  most  holy  ordinance  of  the  Lord's 
Supper — wines  that  never  "maketh  drunken." 

In  a  work  just  published  in  England,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Pear- 
son says  : 

"  Moses  tells  us,  that  the  intoxicating  yayin  (wine)  of  Sodom  was  the 
poison  of  dragons,  and  the  cruel  venom  of  asps,  and  are  we  to  suppose  him 
to  refer  to  its  abuse,  and  not  to  its  character?  He  says  nothing  of  excess^ 
or  drunkenness,  but  speaks  only  of  the  character  of  the  yayin.  Now,  as 
Moses  speaks  of  the  thing  itself  and  not  of  its  abuse,  we  conclude  that  it 
is  the  thing  itself  which  is  condemned.  Now,  will  any  of  our  friends  on  the 
other  side  point  out  a  single  passage  in  the  Bible  in  which  a  thing  good  in 
itself  is  condemned  on  account  of  its  abuse?" 


CHAPTER     IV. 

TWO   KINDS   OF   GRAPES,    TWO    KINDS  OF   MUST,  AND    TWO    KINDS    OF 
NEW    WINE,    ONE    GOOD    AND    THE    OTHER    BAD. 

WE  are  told  by  Swedenborg  that  grapes  in  a  good  sense  mean 
goodness,  and  in  the  opposite  sense  evil.  (A.  C.  2240,  5117.) 
To  eat  sour  grapes  signifies  to  appropriate  to  one's  self  the  falses 
of  evil.  (A.  C.  556.)  Grapes  may  not  only  be  sour,  but  also 
wild,  or  uncultivated,  consequently  useless  as  fruit :  when  this  is 
the  case,  as  in  Isaiah  v.  2,  they  signify  we  are  told  "  evil  opposed 
to  the  goods  of  charity."  "Grapes  of  gall  and  clusters  of  bitter- 
ness" (Deut.  xxxii.  32)  signify  evils  from  dire  falses.  (A.  E. 
438.) 

But  the  signification  of  sweet,  cultivated  grapes  is  good : 
"  Grapes  and  clusters  signify  works  of  charity,  because  they  are 
the  fruits  of  the  vine  and  the  vineyard,  and  by  fruits,  in  the 
Word,  are  signified  good  works."  (A.  R.  649-.) 

Wine  in  the  Cluster. — "  'Thus  saith  Jehovah,  as  the  new  wine 
is  found  in  the  cluster ;  and  He  saith,  Spoil  it  not,  because  a 
blessing  is  in  it.'  (Isaiah  Ixv.  8.)  The  new  wine  in  the  cluster 
denotes  truth  from  good  in  the  natural  principle.  "  (A.  C. 
5117.)  Surely  no  one  can  pretend  that  this  new  wine  in  the 
cluster  is  fermented  wine,  for  alcohol  is  never  found  in  the  clusters 
in  the  vineyard.  To  produce  alcohol  from  grapes,  either  the 
grapes  or  the  juice  therefrom  must  be  manufactured  by  man. 
"Clusters  of  noble  wine"  is  not  fermented  wine. 

The  Blood  of  the  Grape. — This  is  the  juice  which  flows 
almost  or  quite  spontaneously  from  the  grape,  when  the  skin  is 
wounded  or  broken,  before  the  application  of  much  pressure. 
It  is  the  sweetest  portion  of  the  juice  of  the  grape,  and  was 
frequently  preserved  separately  by  the  ancients.  Owing  to  its 
containing  a  large  amount  of  saccharine  matter,  and  very  little 

(45) 


46  TWO  KINDS  OF  GRAPES,  MUST,  AND  WINE. 

gluten,  it  does  not  ferment  as  readily  as  the  juice  which  is 
obtained  by  pressure.  In  Gen.  xlix.  n,  "'He  hath  washed  his 
garments  in  wine,  and  his  covering  in  the  blood  of  grapes' ; 
speaking  of  the  Lord  :  here  wine  denotes  spiritual  good  from  the 
divine  love,  and  the  blood  of  grapes  denotes  celestial  good 
thence  derived.  *  *  *  Again, 'and  thou  drinkest  the  blood 
of  the  grape,  new  wine.'  In  Deut.  xxxii.  14,  speaking  of  the. 
Ancient  Church,  *  *  *  the  blood  of  the  grape  signifies 
spiritual  celestial  good,  which  is  the  name  given  to  the  Divine  in 
heaven  proceeding  from  the  Lord :  wine  is  called  the  blood  of 
grapes,  since  each  signifies  holy  truth  proceeding  from  the  Lord ; 
wine,  however,  is  predicated  of  the  spiritual  and  blood  of  the 
celestial;  and  this  being  the  case,  wine  was  employed  in  the 
Holy  Supper."  (A.  C.  5117.) 

In  the  above  passages  from  the  "Arcana,"  we  are  distinctly 
taught  that  wine  in  the  cluster  and  the  blood  of  the  grape  have  a 
good  signification.  Simply  pressing  the  wine  from  the  grape  does 
not  change  its  character ;  it  is  still  good.  Therefore  Swedenborg 
informs  us  that  "new  wine  signifies  the  truth  of  the  Word." 
(A.  E.  6 1 8.)  "New  wine  signifies  spiritual  good."  (A.  E.  323.) 
"New  wine  (Luke  xv.  29)  is  the  divine  truth  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, consequently  of  the  New  Church,  and  old  wine  is  the 
divine  truth  of  the  Old  Testament,  consequently  of  the  Old 
Church."  (A.  R.  316.)  "Must  signifies  the  same  as  wine,  viz., 
truth  derived  from  the  good  of  charity  and  love."  (A.  E.  695.) 
And,  again,  "  Ey  the  produce  of  the  wine-press  was  signified  all 
the  truth  of  the  good  of  the  Church,  the  same  as  by  wine." 
(A.  E.  799.) 

From  the  above,  it  would  seem  that  it  must  be  perfectly  clear 
to  every  one  who  acknowledges  the  truth  of  the  revelations  to 
the  New  Church,  that  not  only  the  grape  and  the  wine  which  is 
contained  in  the  grape,  the  wine  which  flows  from  the  grape  on 
being  punctured,  or  from  the  press  when  pressure  is  applied,  but 
also  all  the  produce  of  the  wine-press  have  a  good  signification — 
the  very  highest.  This  is  the  wine,  then,  which  we  may  safely 


TWO  KINDS  OF  GRAPES,  MUST,  AND  WINE.  47 

use  in  the  Holy  Supper,  for   it  has  never  been  adulterated  or 
polluted  by  the  manipulation  of  man  and  the  action  of  ferment. 

But  let  men  collect  this  good  juice  of  the  grape,  or  new  wine 
or  must,  into  vessels  and  preserve  it  at  a  proper  temperature, 
exposed  to  the  air,  for  from  twelve  to  forty-eight  hours,  and  a 
new  form  of  life  enters  it ;  ferment  or  leaven  signifying  "the  false 
of  evil"  (D.  P.  284),  and  "the  evil  and  the  false,  which  should 
not  be  mixed  with  things  good  and  true"  (A.  C.  2342),  com- 
mences its  fearful  work  of  destruction ;  and,  if  not  arrested  by 
boiling,  or  some  other  instrumentality,  it  continues  it  until  there 
is  left,  save  a  little  sugar,  scarcely  a  vestige  of  the  natural  ingre- 
dients of  the  original  wine  from  the  grape  ;  and  when  this  work 
of  destruction  is  completed  we  have  fermented  wine — the  wine 
which  causes  drunkenness — which  Swedenborg  compares  to  falses 
from  evil  (A.  E.  1035),  and  of  which  he  says  :  "The  reason  why 
the  false,  which  gives  birth  to  evil,  is  signified  is  because,  as  wine 
intoxicates  and  makes  insane,  so  does  the  false  ;  spiritual  intoxi- 
cation being  nothing  but  insanity  induced  by  reasonings  con- 
cerning what  is  to  be  believed,  when  nothing  is  believed  which  is 
not  comprehended,  hence  come  falses,  and  from  falses  evil." 
(A.  C.  5120.) 

The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  the  leaven  is  neither  the 
product  of  the  vine,  nor  of  the  wine-press ;  but  it  is  among  the 
evil  uses,  described  by  Swedenborg,  which  originate  from  hell ; 
and  which  he  assures  us  should  not  be  mixed  with  tnings  good  and 
true.  "  The  process  of  fermentation  is  one  of  decay  ;  in  all  ferment- 
ative action,  vital  growth  is  arrested,  organized  matter  is  disinteg- 
rated and  retrogression  ensues.  It  is  a  passage  from  more  complex 
to  more  elementary  form — in  fact,  from  diet  to  dirt.  Pl^iStarch  in  V  ^ 
his  -Roman  Questions'  ( 109%  and  Gellius,  in  his  'Acttic  Nights,' 
remark  that  the  priests  of  Jupiter  were  not  permitted  to  touch 
leaven,  because  it  was  the  product  aiid  producer  of  corruption." 
(Lees'  Bible  Commentary.)  How  strange  it  seems  that  any  New 
Churchman,  with  all  the  clear  light  thrown  upcn  this  subject  by 
the  writings  of  the  Church,- should  justify  and  even  advocate  the 
use  of  fermented  wine,  full  of  alcohol,  the  chief  product  of  leaven. 


48  TWO  KINDS  OF  GRAPES,  MUST,  AND  WINE. 

As  soon  as  leaven  commences  its  destructive  work,  the  wine 
becomes  warm,  thick,  and  muddy,  but  it  is  still  called  must  and 
new  wine ;  and  it  is  in  this  state,  as  it  is  with  new  fermenting 
cider,  that  it  is  liable  to  disturb  the  stomach  and  bowels  if 
drank.  Fresh  grape  juice  or  new  wine,  as  well  as  grapes,  if  used 
moderately, will  tend  to  keep  the  bowels  regular  and  to  remove 
constipation ;  but  if  used  too  freely,  like  most  fruits  and  their 
juices,  they  may  disturb  the  stomach  and  cause  looseness  of  the 
bowels. 

When  the  work  of  fermentation  commences,  we  have  a  must  or 
new  wine  of  a  very  different  character  from  that  contained  in  the 
fruit  of  the  vine,  or  which  flowed  from  the  press  ;  for  it  is  being 
polluted  by  a  substance  which  has  its  life  from  hell,  and  adul- 
terated by  its  chief  poisonous  product — alcohol,  which  causes 
drunkenness  and  insanity.  Is  it  strange  that  must  and  new  wine, 
when  thus  adulterated,  should  have  a  very  different  signification 
from  the  unpolluted  must  and  new  wine  ? 

It  is  certain  that  there  must  be  a  corresponding  change  in  the 
signification  of  the  new  wine  and  must,  thus  changed  by  leaven ; 
therefore,  we  read  that,  "  must  or  new  wine  denotes  evil  pro- 
duced by  falses."  (A.  C.  2465.)  And  again,  "That  wine  \vinum 
mustum~\  signifies  the  interior  false  principle,  and  new  wine 
\_mus tum~\  the  exterior  false  principle  shown."  (A.  E.  141,  960.) 

In  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon,  we  are  clearly  shown  that,  in  his 
day,  they  had  two  kinds  of  wine — the  one  good  and  the  other 
bad.  (Prov.  ix.  2.)  "Wisdom  hath  builded  her  house,  she  hath 
hewn  out  her  seven  pillars  ;  she  hath  killed  her  beasts  ;  she  hath 
mingled  her  wine ;  she  hath  also  furnished  her  table."  Here, 
then,  he  manifestly  refers  to  a  good  kind  of  wine,  which,  when 
mingled  with  water,  as  was  their  custom  in  those  days,  as  we 
shall  see  with  their  wine  preserved  by  boiling,  was  every  way  a 
suitable  article  for  a  drink  and  for  table  use.  But  of  a  very 
different  kind  of  wine  we  read. in  Prov.  xxiii.  29,  30,  31. 
"Who  hath  woe?  who  hath  sorrows?  who  hath  contentions? 
who  hath  babbling  ?  who  hath  wounds  without  cause  ?  who  hath 
redness  of  eyes  ?  They  that  tarry  long  at  the  wine ;  they  that 


TWO  KINDS  OF  GRAPES,  MUST,  AND  WINE.  49 

go  to  seek  mixed  wine.  Look  not  thou  upon  the  wine  when  it 
is  red,  when  it  giveth  his  color  in  the  cup,  when  it  moveth 
itself  aright.  At  the  last  it  biteth  like  a  serpent  and  stingeth 
like  an  adder."  How  wonderfully  do  these  ancient  Proverbs 
describe  the  effects  of  intoxicating  wines  seen  to-day,  as  in 
former  times.  How  good  and  safe  the  command  of  total  absti- 
nence, which  the  wise  man  gives  in  the  above  strong  language. 
"The  condemnation  of  wine  by  the  leading  prophets,"  says  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Samson,  "is  universal.  Jeremiah  pictures  'the  man 
whom  wine  hath  overcome'  (xxiii.  9),  and  'nations  drunk  with 
wine'  (li.  7).  Ezekiel  reproduces  the  law  'neither  shall  any 
priest  drink  wine'  (xliv.  21).  Zechariah  declares  that  the 
Israelites  in  their  moral  abandonment  at  Christ's  coining  would 
be  like  men  '  drinking'  to  drown  sensibility,  who  '  make  a  noise 
through  wine.'  Zechariah  puts  the  healthful  tirosh,  'new  wine,' 
which  maidens  at  the  Messiah's  coming  will  partake,  into  direct 
contrast  with  the  yayin,  or  intoxicating  'wine,'  which  'noisy' 
brawlers  will  drink  (ix.  15,  17).  Haggai  mentions  it  among  the 
simple  natural  products  of  the  land  of  Israel  in  the  latter  day 
(i.  1 1).  Jeremiah  as  the  compiler  of  the  Kings,  and  Ezra  of  the 
Chronicles,  mentions  tirosh  as  an  article  to  which  there  is  a  return 
after  reformation  under  Hezekiah  and  Josiah  (2  Kings  xviii.  32  ; 
2  Chron.  xxxi.  5  ;  xxxii.  28)  ;  and  Nehemiah  cites  it  in  almost 
every  allusion  to  the  products  of  the  field,  as  if  the  return  from 
their  captivity  brought  a  return  among  the  Israelites  to  the  use 
of  simple,  unfermented  wine  "  (Nehemiah  v.  n  ;  x.  37,  39  ;  xiii. 

5.  I2)- 

"It  is  worthy  of  note,"  says  the  Rev.  W.  M.  Thayer,  "that  the 

Bible  supports  the  view  that  alcohol  is  poison.  The  Hebrew 
word  for  'poison'  is  khamah.  This  word  is  found  in  the  two 
following  passages  with  others :  '  Adder's  poison  is  under  their 
lips.'  (Ps.  cxl.  3).  'Their  wine  is  the  poison  of  dragons.' 
(Deut.  xxxii.  33.)  If  the  idea  of '  poison'  is  found  in  the  first 
passage,  so  it  is  in  the  second.  Hence  some  commentators 
translate  the  passage  in  Habakkuk  ii.  15,  thus  :  '  Woe  unto  him 
3 


5Q  T\VO  KINDS  OF  GRAPES,  MUST,  AND  WINE. 

that  giveth  his  neighbor  drink,  that  putteth  thy  khamah  (poison) 
to  him!'  Instead  of  'bottle,'  St.  Jerome's  version  has  it 
'poison,'  'gal!.'  Montanus  has  it,  'thy  poison'  Dr.  John  Gill 
says,  the  word  is  sometimes  translated,  'thy  gall,'  'thy  poison.' 
Parkhurst  defines  khamah,  'inflammatory  poison.'  Archbishop 
Newcome  has  'gall,'  'poison.'  The  Bible  declares  that  wine 
'biteth  like  a  serpent  and  stingeth  like  an  adder;'  in  which  text 
there  is  no  sense,  unless  we  have  in  view  the  fatal  poison  which 
these  reptiles  eject  with  their  bite.  Dr.  John  Mair,  of  Edinburgh, 
staff-surgeon  to  her  Britannic  Majesty's  army,  remarks  upon  this 
passage  :  '  Is  there  not  something  to  be  gathered  from  this  sin- 
gular fact  ?  Does  it  not  tend  to  show  that  alcohol  is  no  ordinary 
poison ;  but  that  it  possesses  qualities  assimilating  it  to  the 
poison  of  serpents,  which  render  it  peculiarly  the  enemy  of  man, 
to  be  shunned  by  him  as  venomous  reptiles  are,  almost  instinct- 
ively?' " — Communion  Wine  and  Bible  Temperance. 

NEW   WINE   IN   OLD    BOTTLES. 

We  present  the  following  extracts  from  the  little  book  entitled 
"Holy  Scripture  and  Temperance,"  by  Canon  Hopkins  : 

"  It  seems  to  have  become  an  almost  universal  habit  to  take 
for  granted  that  whenever  wine  is  mentioned  in  Holy  Writ,  an 
intoxicating  drink  is  intended.  Of  course,  it  is  well  known  that 
intoxicating  wine  is  very  often  spoken  of  in  Holy  Scripture, 
although  invariably  some  cautionary  or  condemnatory  language 
is  appended,  whenever  its  power  to  produce  drunkenness  is 
recognized.  This  fact  creates  a  presumption  that  Holy  Scripture 
does  not  sanction  or  justify  the  habitual  use  of  intoxicating  wine. 
But  this  presumption  would  be  very  weak,  if  it  were  not  sup- 
ported by  any  other  facts.  Is  it,  then,  supported  in  any  other 
way?  Most  readers  will  be  ready  to  dismiss  the  question  at 
once.  Wine  is  wine,  they  will  urge,  and  it  is  absurd  to  pretend 
that  it  is  or  can  be  anything  else.  There  is,  however,  only  one  pas- 
sage in  Holy  Scripture  which  gives  any  insight  into  the  chemical 
properties  of  the  wine  which  was  then  in  common  use,  and  this 
is  in  the  New  Testament.  Our  Lord,  speaking  of  the  wine  which 


NEW  WINE  IN  OLD  BOTTLES.  51 

was  in  use  at  the  period  when  He  lived  and  taught,  says  on  one 
occasion : 

" '  No  man  putteth  new  wine  into  old  bottles ;  else  the  new 
wine  will  burst  the  bottles,  and  be  spilled,  and  the  bottles  shall 
perish.  But  new  wine  must  be  put  into  new  bottles ;  and  both 
are  preserved.  No  man  also  having  drunk  old  wine,  straightway 
desireth  new;  for  he  saith,  The  old  is  better.'  (St.  Luke  v.  37- 
39  ;  compare  St.  Matt.  ix.  17,  and  St.  Mark  ii.  22.) 

"Three  properties  of  wine  are  here  spoken  of;  and  spoken  of 
as  being  perfectly  familiar  to  the  experience  of  all  persons  who 
have  anything  to  do  with  wine  : 

"i.  New  wine  put  into  new  bottles  will  keep  without  danger 
either  to  the  wine  or  to  the  bottles. 

"2.  New  wine  put  into  old  bottles  will  not  keep,  but  will  in 
some  way  burst  and  destroy  the  bottles,  and  will  run  out  and  be 
spilled. 

"  3.  The  wine  is  mellowed  by  being  kept,  and  acquires  by  age 
a  more  attractive  flavor. 

"Where,  then,  can  we  find  a  liquid  which  fulfills  these  three 
conditions  ? 

"  Everybody  knows  very  well  that  modern  still  wine,  whether 
new  or  old,  may  be  put  with  perfect  security  into  any  kind  of 
bottle  whatever,  and  has  no  tendency  to  burst  the  bottle. 

"  Sparkling  wines  could  not  be  safely  put  into  leather  bottles  at 
all,  either  new  or  old.  Even  with  thick  glass  bottles,  there  is  a 
great  destruction  of  bottles  and  loss  of  wine  in  the  factories  where 
these  wines  are  made  and  prepared  for  the  market. 

"It  seems,  then,  that  the  wine  referred  to  by  our  Lord  must 
have  possessed  chemical  properties  very  different  from  those  of 
modern  wines.  Wines  in  which  the  fermentation  has  ceased, 
still  wines,  have  no  properties  remaining  in  them  which  would 
render  it  unsafe  to  put  them  into  any  bottles,  new  or  old,  which 
are  sound  and  fitted  to  receive  them.  Such  wines  have  no  ten- 
dency to  burst  bottles.  The  other  kind  of  wines,  sparkling  or 
effervescing  wines,  are  not  fit  to  be  put  into  leather  bottles  at  alL 


52  TWO  KINDS  OF  GRAPES,  MUST,  AND  WINE. 

The  carbonic  acid  gas  with  which  they  are  charged  would  distend 
and  crack  the  leather  or  burst  open  the  seams. 

"  What,  then,  was  this  wine  which  would  be  safely  preserved 
in  new  bottles,  but  would  ferment  and  cause  old  bottles  to  burst  ? 
The  only  answer  is,  that  it  was  wine,  the  juice  of  the  grape, 
which  was  as  yet  unfermented,  and  contained  no  alcohol  what- 
ever ! 

"  It  is  well  known  that  extensive  wine-growers  keep  tons  of 
unfermented  grape  juice,  and  some  of  it  for  as  long  as  ten  years. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  ancients  kept  unfermented  grape  juice, 
preserved  in  its  sweet  state  for  a  full  year,  and  called  it  semper 
mustum.  It  is  a  fact  that  at  this  very  day,  both  in  France  and  in 
the  East,  unfermented  wine  is  made  and  drunk,  and  sometimes 
kept  for  months  or  years.  It  is  also  a  fact  that  to  those  who 
drink  it  the  flavor  appears  to  become  more  mellowed  and  grate- 
ful by  the  influence  of  time ;  so  that  no  one  who  drinks  this  old 
wine  straightway  desires  new,  for  he  says,  THE  OLD  is  BETTER. 

"  In  this  wine,  in  this  must  is  found  a  liquid  which  perfectly 
fulfills  the  three  conditions  which  are  demanded  by  the  terms  of 
our  Lord's  parable. 

"  i.  If  this  wine,  properly  prepared,  be  put  into  new  bottles, 
it  will  keep  for  any  length  of  time  without  fermenting. 

"  2.  If,  however,  this  prepared  must  be  put  into  a  leather  skin 
which  has  before  contained  wine,  fermentation  will  necessarily 
ensue.  Minute  portions  of  albuminoid  matter  would  be  left 
adhering  to  the  skin,  and  receive  yeast  germs  from  the  air,  and 
keep  them  in  readiness  to  set  up  fermentation  in  the  new  unfer- 
mented contents  of  the  skin.  For  as  soon  as  the  unfermented 
grape  juice  was  introduced,  the  yeast  germs  would  begin  to  grow 
in  the  sugar  and  to  develop  carbonic  dioxide.  If  the  must  con- 
tained one-fifth  sugar,  it  would  develop  forty-seven  times  its 
volume  of  the  gas,  and  produce  a  pressure  of  34.3  atmospheres, 
/.  e.,  1,300  Ibs.  to  the  square  inch,  about  ten  times  the  pressure 
which  an  ordinary  high-pressure  steam-engine  has  to  withstand. 
No  leathern  bottle,  new  or  old,  could  endure  this  enormous  ten- 
sion !  The  bottle  would  burst  and  the  wine  would  be  spilled. 


NEW  WINE  IN  OLD  BOTTLES.  53 

"3.  The  must,  properly  enclosed  and  kept,  improves  in  quality 
and  flavor.  It  is  used  by  modern  Turks  in  many  parts  of  the 
East  to  this  day ;  and  either  alone  or  diluted  with  water  makes  a 
palatable,  grateful,  and  cheering  beverage.  The  same  wine  has 
been  imported  into  England  in  casks.  Non-alcoholic  wine  has 
been  largely  and  successfully  prescribed  for  fever,  consumption, 
and  dyspepsia,  from  some  form  of  which  latter  malady  Timothy 
may  have  been  suffering  when  St.  Paul  recommended  him  to 
' drink  no  longer  water,'  but  to  'use  a  little  wine.' 

"  Let  the  reader  observe  that  it  is  not  here  asserted  that 
this  must  was  the  wine  to  which  our  Lord  referred.  It 
would  be  halting  logic  to  argue  that  because  the  liquid  may 
have  been  must,  therefore  it  was  must.  Here,  however,  is 
a  wine  which  entirely  fulfills  the  three  conditions  necessary 
to  make  our  Lord's  parable  really  pertinent  and  applicable  to 
the  lesson  he  was  teaching  at  the  time.  Unless  some  other 
liquid  also  called  wine  can  be  identified  as  possessing  the 
three  properties  mentioned  above,  a  candid  inquirer  will  feel 
that  a  case  (bordering  closely  upon  actual  demonstration)  has 
been  made  out ;  and  that  he  is  almost  driven  to  conclude  that 
the  wine,  which  was  present  to  the  mind  of  Jesus  when  He  thus 
spoke,  and  which  was  familiar  to  the  experience  of  all  to  whom 
He  was  then  speaking,  was  unfermented  and  non-intoxicating 
wine. 

"  It  must  always  be  insisted  upon,  and  it  ought  always  to  be 
remembered,  that  'wine'  in  Holy  Scripture  is  a  general  and  an 
inclusive  term.  It  is  manifest  that  some  wine  mentioned  in  Holy 
Scripture  was  intoxicating ;  but  it  is  certain  the  word  wine  is  also 
used  for  the  fresh  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape,  and  for  the 
must  or  sweet  wine  or  new  wine  which  was  not  intoxicating. 
The  fruit  of  the  vine  and  the  juice  of  the  grape  are  symbols  of 
heavenly  blessings  ;  the  fiery  cup  which  results  from  fermentation 
is  the  type  of  the  fierce  wrath  of  God  ! 

"When  we  compare  the  two  assertions,  'Wine  is  a  mocker,' 
and  'Wine  maketh  glad  the  heart  of  man,'  it  is  scarcely  possible 


54  -          TWO  KINDS  OF  GRAPES,  MUST,  AND  WINE. 

to  believe  that  the  word  '  wine '  means  the  same  identical  thing 
in  both  sentences.  Yet  it  seems  to  be  generally  assumed  that  it 
does.  Why  should  such  an  assumption  be  made  without  any 
attempt  at  proof?  Is  it  usual  for  any  accurate  writer  to  employ  a 
word  in  this  way,  unless  he  is  aware,  and  his  readers  are  aware, 
that  the  word  is  in  fact  used  to  describe  two  different  things  ? 
Much  less  is  it  to  be  thought  that  holy  men  of  God,  who  spake 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  could  speak  otherwise 
than  accurately.  Now,  the  juice  of  the  grape  in  its  natural  state 
is  wholesome  and  nutritive.  It  is  a  cordial  and  a  tonic.  But 
after  fermentation  it  loses  most,  if  not  all,  its  nutritious  qualities, 
and  is  indeed  a  'mocker.'  It  is  pleasant  to  the  taste,  refreshing 
at  first  to  the  spirits,  but  very  soon  '  it  bites  like  a  serpent  and 
stings  like  an  adder.'  The  real  question  is  very  simple.  It  is  a 
question  of  fact.  Is  the  word  'wine'  used  in  Holy  Scripture  as 
the  name  of  both  these  liquids  ?  That  it  is  so  used  no  impartial 
inquirer  can  justly  deny." — Holy  Scripture  and  Temperance. 

We  are  told  by  Swedenborg  that  a  bottle  signifies  the  mind  of 
man,  because  that  is  the  recipient  of  truth  or  falsity  as  a  bottle 
contains  wine  (A.  E.  376)  ;  also  bottles  signify  the  knowledges 
which  contain  truths  (A.  E.  316)  ;  new  bottles  signify  the  pre- 
cepts and  commands  of  the  Lord  to  the  Christian  Church ;  old 
bottles  signify  the  statutes  and  judgments  of  the  Jewish  Church. 
(A.  E.  376.)  Ferment  signifies  the  false  of  evil.  (D.  P.  284.) 

From  the  above  we  can  readily  see  why,  if  we  attempt  to  intro- 
duce the  truths  of  this  new  age  into  minds,  however  empty  they 
may  be,  which  simply  contain  the  old  knowledge  of  a  past  age, 
all  the  truths  of  which  have  been  destroyed  by  the  false  of  evil 
until  evils  are  justified  and  approved,  the  attempt  is  a  failure  ;  for  if 
we  ever  succeed  in  getting  some  ideas  into  the  knowledges  already 
existing  in  the  mind,  evil  or  perverted  appetites  and  passions  assail 
until  the  knowledges  are  torn  asunder  and  the  truths  cast  out. 

Before  new  truths  can  be  received,  and  be  retained,  there 
must  be  new  bottles,  derived  from  the  letter  of  the  Word  and 
confirmed  thereby,  otherwise  the  bottles  will  be  rent  and  the  truth 


NEW  WINE  IN  OLD  BOTTLES.  55 

cast  forth.  Men  must  have  some  desire  to  know  the  truth  and 
obey  it,  before  they  can  see  the  truth  or  receive  it  upon  so  plain  a 
question  as  the  duty  of  total  abstinence  from  intoxicating  drinks. 

So  on  this  wine  question  :  true  doctrine  must  be  drawn  from 
the  literal  sense  of  the  Word  and  confirmed  by  it ;  for,  we  are 
taught,  that : 

"  Doctrine  is  not  only  to  be  drawn  from  the  literal  sense  of 
the  Word,  but  it  is  also  to  be  confirmed  by  that  sense"  (S.  S.  54) ; 
also,  that  "The  doctrine  of  genuine  truth  may  he  fully  drawn 
from  that  sense." — Ibid  (55).  Moreover,  "True  doctrine  can- 
not be  collected  from  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word"  on  the 
wine  question  any  more  than  it  can  be  upon  any  other  doctrine 
of  the  Church ;  for  "  Doctrine  is  not  attainable  by  means  of  that 
sense,  but  only  capable  of  receiving  illustration  and  confirmation 
from  it. ' ' — Ibid  (56). 

Since  the  Last  Judgment,  the  Lord  has  poured  out  bounti- 
fully good  and  true  principles  upon  the  human  race.  This 
influx  from  God  has  not  been  limited  to  any  nation,  class,  or 
religion,  but  has  come  down  out  of  the  new  heavens  to  the 
universal  man,  according  to  efflux.  It  has  quickened  his  facul- 
ties in  the  arts,  sciences,  mechanics,  and  agriculture.  It  has 
stirred  up  the  spirit  of  research  in  all  directions.  Men  of  all 
religions,  moved  by  this  divine  spirit,  have  been  led  to  examine  • 
the  W~ord  of  God  on  the  wine  question.  They  have  brought  to 
their  aid  the  divinely  appointed  handmaid,  the  natural  sciences; 
which  sciences,  as  far  as  they  are  true,  form  a  plane  of  life  for 
the  influx  of  Divine  Truth  out  of  heaven. 

By  means  of  science  we  understand  the  chemistry  of  wine  not 
fermented,  and  the  chemistry  of  wine  fermented ;  we  also  know 
something  of  the  effects  of  both  upon  the  human  body,  in  health 
and  in  sickness.  We  know  that  alcohol  belongs  to  therapeutics 
and  the  arts,  and  not  to  dietetics.  And  when  it  is  introduced 
into  a  healthy  human  body  under  the  name  of  wine,  whisky,  or 
brandy,  it  flows  into  its  passions  and  lusts,  and  excites  evil  dispo- 
sitions which  lead  to  all  forms  of  vice. 


56  TWO  KINDS  OF  STRONG  DRINK. 


STRONG   DRINK. 

When  strong  drink  is  named  in  the  Word,  the  natural  inference 
is  by  the  men  of  this  perverted  age,  that  reference  is  made  to 
alcoholic  drinks  or  distilled  liquors,  for  such  drinks  to-day  are 
alone  regarded  as  strong  drinks ;  but  when  we  remember  that 
the  art  of  distilling  was   not  discovered  until  about   the  sixth 
century  of  the  Christian  era,  except  perhaps  in  a  rude  form  in 
China  and  Ceylon,  we  know,  with  reasonable  certainty,  that  such 
drinks  were  not  meant.     The  ancients  unquestionably  had,  as  we 
have  to-day,  other  fermented  drinks  which  would  cause  intoxica- 
tion besides  wine.      Says  the  Rev.  Wm.  Ritchie,  of  Scotland : 
"  Shechar  means  luscious  drink,  or  sweet  syrup,  especially  of  sugar 
or  honey,  of  dates  or  of  the  palm-tree.    The  Hebrew  word  is  usu- 
ally rendered  by  the  translators  of  our  English  Bible  '  strong  drink? 
This  is  not  a  happy  rendering  of  the  original  term.     The  epithet 
'strong,'  for  which  there  is  nothing  equivalent  in  the  Hebrew, 
conveys   the   idea   that  the    drink   is  highly  intoxicating.     But 
Shechar,  of  itself  conveys  no  such  idea.     We  examine  the  pas- 
sages where  it  is  used,  and  we  find  it  in  numerous  instances 
spoken  of  along  with  Yain ;  and,  as  we  know  this  latter  word  is 
a  general  term  to  denote  the  juice  of  the  grape,  we  conclude 
that  Shechar  is  a  general  name  for  liquor  made  from  dates,  grain, 
or  other  fruits,  the  produce  of  the  vine  excepted.     We  have  no 
word  in  our  language  equivalent  to  the  Hebrew  term  Shechar ; 
and  it  had  been  better,  if,  like  some  others  of  this  class,  it  had 
been  left  untranslated  in  our  version  of  the  Scriptures.     In  this 
case,  it  would  not  have  suggested  to  the  mind  a  strong  intoxicat- 
ing drink.     'This  is  true,'  says  Moses  Stuart,  '  of  neither  Yain 
nor  Shechar.     Both  words  are  generic.     The  first  means  vinous 
liquor  of  any  kind  and  every  kind.     The  second  means  a  cor- 
responding liquor  from  dates  and  other  fruits,  or  from  several 
kinds  of  grain.      Both  liquors  have   in  them    the    saccharine 
principle,  and,  therefore,  they  may  become  alcoholic,  but  both 
may  be  kept  and  used  in  an  unfermented  state.' " — Scripture  Tes- 
timony against  IVine. 


TWO  KINDS  OF  STRONG  DRINK.  57 

If  the  words  in  the  original  Sacred  Scriptures,  which  have  been 
translated  by  the  term  strong  drink,  in  contrast  with  wine,  ever 
denote  what  we  understand  by  the  word  strong,  it  is  evident  that 
reference  must  have  been  had  to  some  quality  aside  from  that 
which  resulted  from  fermentation ;  for  it  is  reasonably  certain  that 
they  had  no  drink  stronger  to  cause  intoxication  than  fermented 
wine.  It  is  supposed  by  some  writers  th.it  such  drinks  were, 
prepared  by  mixing  various  medicinal  or  stimulating  substances 
with  fermented  drinks,  which,  to  say  the  least,  is  a  somewhat 
unreasonable  supposition.  While  opium  is.  strong  to  stupify, 
ipecac  to  vomit,  jalap  to  purge,  mustard  to  irritate  the  skin  and 
mucous  membranes,  nux  vomica  to  cause  convulsions,  and 
alcohol  to  cause  unnatural  excitement  and  drunkenness,  none  of 
these  substances  are  strong  in  a  genuine  sense  ;  for  while  they  are 
strong  to  cause  suffering  and  disease,  they  are  not  strong  to 
supply  the  ordinary  wants  of  the  body,  by  giving  nourishment 
and  thus  strength.  The  very  fact  that  strong  drink  in  the  Word 
sometimes  has  a  good  signification,  and  is  classed  with  oxen, 
sheep  and  wine,  as  in  Deut.  xiv.  26,  is  evidence  that  in  an 
unpolluted  and  unperverted  state  it  could  neither  have  been 
fermented,  nor  have  been  a  drugged  drink  ;  therefore  Swedenborg 
says  :  "  That  strong  drink  signifies  the  truth  of  the  natural  man 
derived  from  the  spiritual."  (Swe.denborg's  Index  to  the  A.  E.) 
It  will  be  seen  that  this  signification  is  precisely  what  we  should 
expect,  if  instead  of  an  unnaturally  stimulating,  irritating,  and 
exciting  fluid,  it  was  really  what  its  name  signifies,  a  nourishing, 
strengthening  fluid,  giving  healthy  substance  to  the  body. 

Now,  we  have  a  plenty  of  drinks  in  use  to-day,  to  some  of 
which  Rev.  Wm.  Ritchie  alludes  above,  which  are  really  strong  in 
a  good  and  true  sense ;  strong  to  nourish,  and  give  strength 
without  causing  unnatural  excitement,  which  consequently  have 
unquestionably  a  good  correspondence.  Of  such  drinks  we 
have  milk ;  gruels  made  with  milk  or  water  from  the  flour  or  meal 
of  our  different  grains,  or  by  boiling  rice  or  barley ;  and  the 
ancients,  by  adding  their  sweet  boiled  grape  juice  or  good  wine, 
had  a  palatable  and  delightful  drink,  entirely  harmless,  and  every 


58  TWO  KINDS  OF  STRONG  DRINK. 

way  useful.  The  Scotsman  of  to-day,  while  resting  from  his 
work,  readily  prepares  a  really  strong  beverage  by  adding  oatmeal 
to  the  water  which  he  drinks.  The  early  settlers  of  New 
England  had  such  a  drink  in  their  bean  porridge,  which  they 
carried  into  the  fields  for  their  dinners. 

But  we  all  know  that  these  healthy,  life-giving  drinks,  like 
unfermented  wine,  may  become  polluted  by  fermentation ;  or 
may  be  mingled  with  fermented  wine,  and  thus  become  injurious, 
poisonous,  and  destructive  when  used  as  drink ;  consequently 
Swedenborg  tells  us  "That  to  mingle  strong  drink  signifies  to 
confirm  fakes."  (Swedenborg's  Index  to  A.  E.  379.) 


To  fill  a  vacant  space  on  this  page,  the  following  extract  from 
a  brief  reply  of  the  Rev.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler  to  Dr.  Crosby's 
open  letter,  is  inserted  : 

"  As  to  this  whole  contested  question  of  the  relation  of  God's  Word  to 
the  use  of  alcoholic  beverages,  we  believe  the  following  positions  impreg- 
nable : 

"  i.  The  Bible  in  various  passages  points  out  the  evils  of  intoxicating 
drinks.  It  never  pronounces  a  blessing  on  intoxicants,  but  often  warns  us 
against  tampering  with  them. 

"  2.  The  Bible  in  several  passages  commends  abstinence  from  alcoholic 
beverages.  But  there  is  not  a  single  line  in  God's  Word  which  condemns 
total  abstinence. 

"  3.  The  Bible  is  to  be  studied  as  a  whole;  and  the  whole  spirit  of  this 
blessed  Word  from  heaven  is  the  spirit  of  self-control,  sobriety,  purity, 
avoidance  of  temptation,  and  of  self-denial  for  the  sake  of  our  fellow-men. 

"  On  these  views  of  God's  Word  the  total  abstinence  army  are  an  unit; 
against  these  views  the  "  gates  of  hell  "  can  never  prevail.  But  even  if  the 
Bible  did  not  contain  a  single  syllable  about  wine  or  strong  drink,  we  have 
an  inexhaustible  armory  of  arguments  for  entire  abstinence  in  science,  medi- 
cal testimony,  common  sense,  and  the  first  principles  of  philanthropy. 

"  Chancellor  Crosby's  wild  assault  on  our  reform  is  already  working  a 
vast  benefit.  The  volume  of  replies  issued  from  our  publication  house  ought 
to  be  circulated  by  the  thousands." 


CHAPTER    V. 

WINES   OF   THE   ANCIENTS. 

WE  have  seen  that,  from  a  careful  examination  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures,  we  have  an  abundance  of  evidence  that  two  kinds  of 
wine,  one  good  and  the  other  bad,  are  mentioned  therein.  Says 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Herrick  Johnson,  of  Philadelphia  : 

"  Now,  what  if  there  is  another  kind  of  wine  spoken  of  in  the 
Word  of  God  that  cannot  possibly  be  intoxicating,  where  ferment- 
ation and  the  consequent  presence  of  alcohol  are  out  of  the 
question — what  then  ?  Why,  is  it  not  reasonable  and  consistent, 
the  demand  alike  of  common  sense  and  common  conscience, 
to  regard  this  as  the  wine  commended  in  Scripture  as  a  blessing 
making  glad  the  heart  of  man. 

"  Gedaliah,  made  governor  by  the  King  of  Babylon  over  the 
cities  of  Judah,  thus  commanded  the  Jews  (Jer.  xl.  10)  :  'Gather 
ye  wine,  and  summer  fruits,  and  oil,  and  put  them  in  your 
vessels.'  And  the  record  is, 'they  gathered  wine  and  summer 
fruits  very  much.'  The  Bible  also  speaks  of  'presses  bursting 
with  new  wine,'  of  '  wine  found  in  the  cluster ; '  and  it  says  of 
this  wine,  and  of  this  only,  and  in  this  very  connection,  '  a  bless- 
ing is  in  it.'  Here  is  frequent  reference  to  the  pure,  unfermented 
juice  of  the  grape  as  just  trodden  out  of  the  presses,  just  gathered 
from  the  vintage,  and  even  as  found  in  the  cluster.  And  here 
this  grape  juice  is  repeatedly,  and  by  the  Jews  themselves,  in 
their  own  Scriptures,  called  wine  both  yayin  and  tirosh. 

"There  is  no  exploit  of  logic  that  can  make  any  sane  man 
believe  this  to  be  the  very  same  wine  elsewhere  called  'a  mocker.' 
The  deceitful,  subtle,  serpent  element  has  not  yet  entered  it  ; 
for  alcohol  requires  time  and  a  process  for  its  formation.  It  is 
the  simple,  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape,  just  as  cider  right  out 
of  the  press  is  the  simple,  unfermented  juice  of  the  apple.  And 

(5'J) 


60  WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

as  such,  God  says,  a  blessing  is  in  it.  Here,  then,  is  the  scrip- 
tural distinction  between  wine  and  wine.  It  is  not  made  to  suit. 
a  modern  exigency.  God's  Word  makes  it.  Is  it  only  a  'hair- 
breadth' distinction?  Is  there  nothing  more  than  that  between 
'  a  blessing'  and  '  a  mocker '  ?  Each  was  called  wine  by  the  Jews* 
because  wine  \yayin\  is  a  generic  word  applied  to  the  juice  of 
the  grape  in  all  conditions,  whether  sour  or  sweet,  old  or  new, 
fermented  or  unfermented. 

"  Let  one  thing  mare  be  now  proved,  and  the  whole  case  is 
too  clear  for  question.  Were  the  ancients  in  the  habit  of 
preserving  and  using  as  such,  free  from  fermentation,  this  juice 
of  the  grape  which  they  called  wine  ?  Beyond  all  doubt  they 
were.  Thi3  evidence  is  to  be  found  in  almost  any  classical 
authority.  So  say  Plato,  Columella,  Pliny,  Aristotle.  So  indicate 
•v/  Horace,  Homer,  Plutarch.  Some  of  these  ancient  writers  give 
in  detail  the  very  processes  of  boiling,  filtering,  and  sulphuriza- 
tion  by  which  the  wines  were  preserved  from  fermentation. 
Anthon,  in  his  'Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities,' 
Archbishop  Potter  in  his  'Grecian  Antiquities,'  Smith  in  his 
'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,'  and  many  other  competent  scholars 
confirm  and  support  this  position.  Moses  Stuart,  that  prince  of 
philologists,  says,  '  Facts  show  that  the  ancients  not  only  preserved 
wine  unfermented,  but  regarded  it  as  of  a  higher  flavor  and 
finer  quality  than  fermented  wine.  Facts  show  that  it  was,  and 
might  be,  drunk  at  pleasure  without  any  inebriation  whatever. 
On  the  other  hand,  facts  show  that  any  considerable  quantity  of 
fermented  wine  did  and  would  produce  inebriation.'  There  is 
no  ancient  custom  with  a  better  amount  and  character  of  proof 
than  this." 

Rev.  Dr.  E.  Nott,  late  President  of  Union  College,  in  his 
fourth  lecture  says  :  "  That  unintoxicating  wines  existed  from 
remote  antiquity,  and  were  held  in  high  estimation  by  the  wise 
and  good,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt.  The  evidence  is 
unequivocal  and  plenary."  *  *  *  "  We  know  that  then,  as  now, 
inebriety  existed  ;  and  then,  as  now,  the  taste  for  inebriating  wines 
may  have  been  the  prevalent  taste,  and  intoxicating  wines  the 


WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS.  6 1 

popular  wines.  Still  unintoxicating  wines  existed,  and  there  were 
men  who  preferred  such  wines,  and  who  have  left  on  record  the 
avowal  of  that  preference." — ^VW/(Lon.  ed.  p.  85). 

Professor  Moses  Stuart,  says  :  "  Wine  and  strong  drink  are  a 
good,  a  blessing,  a  token  of  divine  favor,  and  to  be  ranked 
with  corn  and  oil.  The  same  substances  are  also  an  evil.  Their 
use  is  prohibited ;  and  woe  is  denounced  to  all  who  seek  for 
them.  Is  there  a  contradiction  here — a  paradox  incapable  of 
any  satisfactory  solution  ?  Not  at  all.  We  have  seen  that  these 
substances  were  employed  by  the  Hebrews  in  two  different 
states ;  the  one  was  a  fermented  state,  the  other  an  unfermented 
one.  *  *  *  Is  there  any  serious  difficulty  now  in  acquitting 
the  Scriptures  of  contradiction  in  respect  to  this  subject?  I  do 
not  find  any.  *  *  *  I  can  only  say,  that  to  me  it  seems 
plain — so  plain  that  no  wayfaring  man  need  to  mistake  it. 

"  My  final  conclusion  is  this,  viz. :  that,  whenever  the  Scrip- 
tures speak  of  wine  as  a  comfort,  a  blessing,  or  a  libation  to 
God,  and  rank  it  with  such  articles  as  corn  and  oil,  they  mean — • 
they  can  mean — only  such  wine  as  contained  no  alcohol  that 
could  have  a  mischievous  tendency  ;  that  wherein  they  denounce 
it,  prohibit  it,  and  connect  it  with  drunkenness  and  revelling ; 
they  can  mean  only  alcoholic  or  intoxicating  wine. 

"  If  I  take  the  position  that  God's  Word  and  works  entirely 
harmonize,  I  must  take  the  position  that  the  case  before  us  is  as 
I  have  represented  it  to  be." 

Rev.  Dr.  William  Patton,  in  his  excellent  work  on  "Bible 
Wines  and  Wines  of  the  Ancients,"  says  : 

"We  cannot  imagine  that  Pliny,  Columella,  Varro,  Cato,  and 
others  were  either  cooks  or  writers  of  cook-books,  but  were 
intelligent  gentlemen  moving  in  the  best  circles  of  society.  So 
when  they,  with  minute  care  give  the  recipes  for  making  sweet 
wine,  which  will  remain  so  during  the  year,  and  the  processes 
were  such  as  to  prevent  fermentation,  we  are  persuaded  that 
these  were  esteemed  in  their  day.  That  they  were  so  natural 
and  so  simple  as  to  like  these  sweet,  harmless  beverages  is  rather 
in  their  favor,  and  not  to  be  set  down  against  them.  That  there 


62  WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

were  men  in  their  day,  as  there  are  many  in  ours,  who  loved  and 
used  intoxicating  drinks,  is  a  fact  which  marked  their  degradation. 

"Sweet  is  grateful  to  the  new-born  infant.  It  is  loved  by  the 
youth,  by  the  middle-aged,  and  by  the  aged.  This  taste  never 
dies.  In  strict  keeping  with  this,  we  find  that  the  articles,  in  their 
great  variety,  which  constitute  the  healthful  diet  of  man,  are 
palatable  by  reason  of  their  sweetness.  Even  of  the  flesh  of  fish 
and  birds  and  animals  we  say,  '  How  sweet  ! ' 

"Whilst  this  taste  is  universal,  it  is  intensified  in  hot  climates. 
It  is  a  well-authenticated  fact  that  the  love  of  sweet  drinks  is  a 
passion  among  Orientals.  For  alcohol,  in  all  its  combinations, 
the  taste  is  unnatural  and  wholly  acquired.  To  the  natural 
instinct  it  is  universally  repugnant." 

After  speaking  of  the  pure  blood  of  the  grape,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Samson  says  : 

"The  second  product  of  the  grape,  and 'next  in  purity,  is 
doubtless  the  debsh.  When,  by  English  and  other  translators  of 
the  Reformation  period,  this  word  was  rendered,  according  to 
the  best  lights  of  their  day,  'honey,' — the  East  was  shut  up  to 
Christian  scholars.  It  was  a  striking  ordering  of  Providence  that 
just  before  the  expedition  of  Napoleon  into  Egypt,  about  A.  D. 
1800,  which  led  on  to  the  opening  of  the  Bible  lands  to  Christain 
exploration,  a  leader  among  German  rationalists,  replied  to  by 
Hengstenberg,  maintained  that  the  writer  of  the  Book  of  Genesis 
could  have  known  nothing  about  Egypt,  or  he  would  not  have 
Suggested  that  Jacob  sent  down  a  present  of  '  honey '  to  Pharaoh 
(Gen.  xliii.  n).  The  modern  traveller  finds  everywhere  in  the 
ancient  land  of  Jacob's  inheritance  that  the  juice  of  the  sweet 
grape  is  boiled  down  to  a  syrup,  still  called  by  the  old  name  dibs, 
whose  spicy  and  nectar-like  sweetness  makes  it  one  of  the  most 
delicious  of  condiments ;  while,  at  the  very  location  whence 
Jacob  sent  it  to  Pharaoh,  at  Hebron,  it  is  prepared  in  great 
quantities  and  sent  to  Egypt  as  an  article  of  trade. 

"  It  is  this  syrup  with  which  it  is  repeatedly  declared  by  Moses 
the  land  of  promise  'flowed'  (Ex.  iii.  8),  etc. ;  and  though  the 
honey  of  bees,  gathered  mainly  from  the  grapes,  is,  when  flowing 


WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS.  63 

from  the  comb,  called  by  the  same  name,  because  it  is  substan- 
tially the  same  article  (as  Jud.  xiv.  8,  i  Sam.  xiv.  25,  29),  yet  the 
debsh  of  Moses  is  almost  always  the  product  of  the  grape  pre- 
pared by  boiling.  In  only  three  cases,  out  of  nearly  fifty,  does 
the  word  refer  to  the  product  prepared  by  bees  rather  than  by 
man." 

"There  is  abundance  of  evidence,"  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Patton, 
"  that  the  ancients  mixed  their  wines  with  water ;  not  because 
they  were  so  strong,  with  alcohol,  as  to  require  dilution,  but 
because,  being  rich  syrups,  they  needed  water  to  prepare  them 
for  drinking.  The  quantity  of  water  was  regulated  by  the  rich- 
ness of  the  wine  and  the  time  of  year." 

"  Those  ancient  authors  who  treat  upon  domestic  manners 
abound  with  the  allusions  to  this  usage.  Hot  water,  tepid 
water,  or  cold  water  was  used  for  the  dilution  of  wine  according 
to  the  season.  (  Hesiod  prescribed,  during  the  summer  months, 
three  parts  of  water  to  one  of  wine.'  '  Nicochares  considers  two 
parts  of  wine  to  five  of  water  as  the  proper  proportion.' 
'According  to  Homer,  Pramnian  and  Meronian  wines  required 
twenty  parts  of  water  to  one  of  wine.  Hippocrates  considered 
twenty  parts  of  water  to  one  of  the  Thracian  wine  to  be  the 
proper  beverage.'  '  Theophrastus  says  the  wine  at  Thasos  is 
wonderfully  delicious.'  Athanceus  states  that  the  Tseniotic  has 
such  a  degree  of  richness  or  fatness  that  when  mixed  with  water 
it  seemed  gradually  to  be  diluted,  much  in  the  same  way  as  Attic 
honey  well  mixed." — Bible  Commentary  i'p.  17). 

How  many  of  the  advocates  of  fermented  wine,  of  our  day, 
would  be  satisfied  with  one  part  of  their  wine  to  twenty  parts  of 
water,  or  even  one  of  wine  to  five  of  water  ?  But  we  can  readily 
understand  how  a  man,  of  unperverted  taste,  would  be  abundantly 
satisfied  with  one  part  of  the  thick  boiled  wines  of  the  ancients 
to  twenty  of  water. 

"  The  annexed  engraving  of  the  Thermopolium  is  copied  from 
the  scarce  work  of  Andreas  Baccius  (De  Nat.  Vino  rum  Hist., 
Rome,  1597,  lib.  iv.,  p.  178;.  The  plan  was  obtained  by  him- 
self, assisted  by  two  antiquaries,  from  the  ruins  of  the  Diocletian 


64 


WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 


Baths  (Rome).  Nothing  can  more  clearly  exhibit  the  contrast 
between  the  ancient  wines  and  those  of  modern  Europe  than 
the  widely  different  modes  of  treating  them.  The  hot  water 
was  often  necessary,  says  Sir  Edward  Barry,  to  dissolve  their 
more  inspissated  and  old  wines." — Kitto  (ii.  p.  956). 


The  prohibition  of  intoxicating  wines  to  women  was  enforced 
by  the  severest  penalties.  "  Plato,  Aristotle,  Plutarch,  and  others 
have  noticed  the  hereditary  transmission  of  intemperate  propen- 
sities ;  and  the  legislation  that  imposed  abstinence  upon  women 
had  unquestionably  in  view  the  greater  vigor  of  the  offspring — • 
the  '  mens  sana  in  corpore  sano1  (a  healthy  mind  in  a  healthy 
body)." — Bible  Commentary  (p.  72). 

Surely  if  fermented  wine  were  a  good  and  useful  article,  neces- 
sary for  health  and  happiness,  women  who  are  bearing,  nursing, 
and  rearing  children  would  seem  to  need  it  if  any  one  needs  it ; 
but  the  ancients  did  not  think  that  they  needed  fermented  wine. 


WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS.  65 

ANCIENT   METHODS   OF   PRESERVING   WINE    SO   AS   TO   PREVENT 
FERMENTATION. 

. "  The  laws  of  fermentation  are  laws  of  nature,  and  work  always 
under  the  same  circumstances. 

"  i .  There  must  be  saccharine  matter  and  gluten. 

"  2.  The  temperature  must  not  be  below  50°  nor  above  75° 
Fahrenheit.  Under  50°  it  does  not  ferment,  over  75°  it  turns 
to  vinegar  by  a  first  and  direct  fermentation. 

"  3.  It  must  not  be  too  thick,  like  syrup.  It  must  be  of  the 
proper  consistency. 

"  Experience  demonstrates  that  grape  juice  never  undergoes 
vinous  fermentation  in  the  grape.  Science  says  that  this  is 
prevented  by  the  absence  of  two  conditions  : 

"  i .  The  gluten  is  deposited  in  separate  sacs,  or  cells,  and  so 
kept  from  the  saccharine  matter. 

^  i.  The  saccharine  matter  is  kept  from  the  oxygen  of  the 
atmosphere,  which  is  needed  to  change  the  saccharine  matter 
before  it  can  set  up  the  process  of  vinous  fermentation.  Grapes 
rot  on  the  vine,  but  do  not  turn  to  alcohol.  Nature  never  pro- 
duces alcohol.  v 

"  It  is  also  matter  of  experience  that  a  warm  climate  produces 
sweet  fruits ;  a  cold  season  gives  us  sour  fruits.  The  change  is 
manifest. 

"  Palestine  is  a  hot  climate.  During  the  season  for  gathering 
the  grapes  the  temperature  is  seldom  as  low  as  100°.  Nature 
provides  for  souring  and  decaying  the  grapes,  but  does  not 
provide  for  vinous  fermentation,  which  is  impossible  at  a  temper- 
ature above  75°. 

"Were  the  Jews  and  ancients  acquainted  with  any  process  for 
preserving  the  juice  of  the  grape,  the  unfermented  wine  ?  They 
used  various  processes  to  secure  this  result : 

"  i.  They  excluded  the  air  from  the  sweet  wine. 

"  2.  They  boiled  down  the  juice  to  the  consistency  of  syrup. 

"  3.  They  filtered  it  and  so  broke  its  power  by  removing  its 
gluten. 


66  WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

"  4.  They  kept  it  cool  and  excluded  from  the  air  till  the  gluten 
subsided,  then  drew  off  the  wine,  which  was  safe  from  fermenta- 
tion. 

"  5.  They  also  used  sulphur  to  neutralise  the  yeast  or  gluten." 

"  Proof  is  overwhelming  that  they  did  use  these  modes  of 
preserving  the  unfermented  wines." — Wines  of  the  Bible,  by  Rev. 
Dr.  C.  H.  Fowler. 

"  Some  persons  tell  us,"  says  the  Rev.  William  Ritchie,  of 
Scotland,  "  this  fermentation  is  a  vital  principle,  and  that  there- 
fore the  thing  produced  is  a  good  creature  of  God.  'They 
forget  entirely,'  says  Liebig,  'that  the  fermentation  of  grape 
juice  begins  with  a  chemical  action'  which  is  opposed  to  a  vital 
one.  '  It  is  contrary  to  all  sober  rules  of  research  to  regard  the 
vital  process  of  an  animal  or  a  plant  as  the  cause  of  fermentation.' 
'The  opinion  that  they  take  any  share  in  the  morbid  process 
must  be  rejected  as  an  hypothesis  destitute  of  all  support.'  'In 
all  fungi,  analysis  has  detected  the  presence  of  sugar,  whi^h, 
during  their  vital  process,  is  NOT  resolved  into  alcohol  and  car- 
bonic acid,  but,  after  their  death,  from  the  moment  that  a  change 
in  their  color  and  consistency  is  perceived,  the  vinous  fermenta- 
tion sets  in,  it  is  the  very  reverse  of  the  vital  process  to  which 
this  must  be  ascribed.'  'Life  is  opposed  to  putrefaction' " 

Count  Chaptal,  the  eminent  French  chemist,  says :  "  Nature 
never  forms  spirituous  liquors ;  she  rots  the  grape  upon  the 
branch,  but  it  is  art  which  converts  the  juice  into  (alcoholic) 
wine."  It  is  an  invention  of  man. 

Dr.  Henry  Monroe,  in  his  Lecture  on  Alcohol,  says  :  "  Alcohol 
is  nowhere  to  be  found  in  any  product  of  nature ;  was  never 
created  by  God  ;  but  is  essentially  an  artificial  thing  prepared  by 
man  through  the  destructive  process  of  fermentation." 

Although  we  called  attention  to  several  of  these  methods,  and 
gave  the  testimony  of  ancient  writers  upon  this  subject,  and 
showed  conclusively  from  their  writings  that  some  of  their  most 
celebrated  wines,  especially  their  old  wines,  were  unfermented, 
and  consequently  unintoxicating  ;  still  not  a  single  New  Church 
writer,  in  replying  to  us,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  has  even  noticed 


WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS.  67 

this  testimony ;  but  all  have  assumed,  without  any  hesitation,  that 
there  was  no  other  wine  used  at  the  various  periods  when  the 
Sacred  Scriptures  were  written  but  fermented  wine. 
.  We  gave  the  testimony  of  Horace,  born  65  B.  c.,  that  there 
was  no  wine  sweeter  to  drink  than  the  Lesbian,  and  that  it 
was  perfectly  harmless  and  would  not  produce  intoxication.  Of 
Aristotle,  born  384  years  B.  c.,  that  the  wine  of  Arcadia  was  so 
thick  that  it  was  necessary  to  scrape  it  from  the  skin  bottles  in 
which  it  was  contained,  and  to  dissolve  the  scrapings  in  water 
before  drinking  it ;  which,  of  course,  is  conclusive  evidence  that 
it  was  not  fermented,  as  fermentation  destroys  the  glutinous 
matter  of  wine,  and  thus  makes  the  wine  thin.  We  gave  also  the 
testimony  of  Virgil,  born  70  B.  c.,  of  Columella,  cotemporaneous 
with  the  Apostles,  of  Plutarch  and  Pliny, that  in  their  day,  it  was 
customary  to  preserve  wine  by  boiling  it ;  and  also  the  testimony 
of  many  other  ancient  authors  that  unfermented  wines  were  pre- 
served and  used,  and  were  highly  esteemed,  and  regarded  and 
spoken  of  as  the  best  wines.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  any  man, 
who  desires  to  know  the  truth  upon  this  subject,  can  disregard 
all  this  testimony ;  but,  as  our  New  Church  writers  have  done  so, 
it  seems  necessary  to  produce  further  testimony,  which  we  shall 
do  without  repeating  to  any  considerable  extent,  the  quotations 
from  ancient  and  more  recent  writers  contained  in  our  tract. 

PRESERVING    WINE   AND    PREVENTING    FERMENTATION    BY    BOILING. 

Among  the  ancients,  Pliny,  Colunaella,  Varo  and  Cato  were 
men  of  distinction,  and  they  gave  minute  attention  to  the  preser- 
vation of  unfermented  wines. 

Boiling  the  recently  expressed  juice  of  grapes  was  undoubtedly 
one  of  the  earliest  and  most  frequent  methods  of  preserving  wine 
from  fermentation. 

"Archbishop  Potter,  born  A.D.  1674,  in  his  'Grecian  Antiqui- 
ties' (Edinburgh  edition,  1813,  vol.  ii.  p.  360),  says:  'The 
Lacedaemonians  used  to  boil  their  wines  upon  the  fire  till  the 
fifth  part  was  consumed ;  then  after  four  years  were  expired 
began  to  drink  them.'  He  refers  to  Democritus,  a  celebrate^ 


68'  WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

philosopher,  who  travelled  over  the  greater  part  of  Europe,  Asia, 
and  Africa,  and  who  died  361  B.  c. ;  also,  to  Palladius,  a  Greek 
physician,  as  making  a  similar  statement.  These  ancient  autho- 
rities called  the  boiled  juice  of  the  grape  wine,  and  the  learned 
archbishop  brings  forward  their  testimony  without  the  slightest 
intimation  that  the  boiled  juice  was  not  wine  in  the  judgment  of 
the  ancients." — Bible  Wines. 

Adams'  "Roman  Antiquities,"  first  published  in  Edinburgh, 
1791,  on  the  authority  of  Pliny  and  Virgil,  says  :  "In  order  to 
make  wine  keep,  they  used  to  boil  \decoquerre\  the  must  down 
to  one-half,  when  it  was  called  defrutum,  to  one-third,  sapa. " 

"Virgil,  the  sweet  poet  of  nature,"  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  G.  W. 
Samson,  "writing  under  Augustus,  pictures  (Georg.  i.  295)  the 
delight  of  the  winter  evenings  in  his  own  rural  home  ;  when  the 
laborer  sat  by  the  fire  sharpening  his  tools  ;  and  his  wife,  beguiling 
their  common  toil  with  her  song,  was  boiling  the  '  flowing  sweet 
must'  \dulcis  musti  humor eni\  •  this  picture  revealing  how  the 
product  of  the  grape  was  used  by  the  simple  children  of  nature 
at  that  day. 

"  As  artificial  heating  drives  off  water,  whose  presence  is  essen- 
tial to  fermentation,  the  boiling  of  grape  juice  to  a  syrup,  the 
debhs  of  the  Hebrews  and  the  dibs  of  the  Arabs,  prevents  the 
formation  of  alcohol." 

"Pliny  says,  'some  Roman  wines  were  as  thick  as  honey,' 
also  that  the  '  Albanian  wine  was  very  sweet  or  luscious,  and  that 
it  took  the  third  rank  among  all  the  wines.'  He  also  tells  of  a 
Spanish  wine  in  his  day,  called  '  inerticulum' —  that  is,  would  not 
intoxicate — from  'iners,'  inert,  without  force  or  spirit,  more 
properly  termed  'justicus  sobriani,'  sober  wine,  which  would 
not  inebriate." — Anti-Bac.  (p.  221). 

"Columella,  who  lived  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  says  the 
Greeks  called  this  unintoxicating  wine  '  Amethyston,'  from 
Alpha,  negative,  and  methusis,  intoxicate — that  is,  a  wine  which 
would  not  intoxicate.  He  adds  that  it  was  a  good  wine,  harmless, 
and  called  'iners,'  because  it  would  not  affect  the  nerves,  but  at 
the  same  time  it  was  not  deficient  in  flavor." — A.  B.  (p.  221). 


WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS.  69 

Boiling  is  beyond  question  one  of  the  best,  if  not  the  very  best 
method  of  preserving  wine,  as  the  entire  substance  of  the  wine  is 
preserved,  with  the  exception  of  the  water,  which  can  be  readily 
restored  when  it  is  required  for  use.  In  most  of  the  other 
methods,  where  foreign  substances  are  not  used  to  prevent 
fermentation,  the  gluten,  which  is  an  important  part  of  the  fruit  of 
the  vine,  is  removed ;  consequently  we  find  that  in  all  ages,  even 
down  to  the  present  day,  boiling  has  been  a  very  frequent  resort 
in  wine-growing  countries. 

Names  may  change,  but  substances  do  not  change  with  the 
change  of  their  names.  Certain  missionaries,  a  few  years  ago, 
declared  that  there  were  no  unfermented  wines  used  in  Palestine 
at  that  day,  and  that  by  careful  inquiry  they  could  not  hear  of 
any  such  wines ;  but  it  is  evident,  from  the  testimony  which 
we  shall  produce  from  other  missionaries  and  travellers,  that  if 
they  had  inquired  for  boiled  grape  juice  or  dibs,  and  had  been 
familiar  with  the  writings  of  the  ancients  who  describe  the  method 
of  boiling,  and  who  called  such  boiled  grape  juice  wine,  and 
spoke  of  it  as  the  best  wine,  they  would  have  made  no  such 
statements  as  they  did ;  for  they  were  undoubtedly  honest,  but 
lacking  in  a  knowledge  of  the  necessary  facts,  which  would  have 
enabled  them  to  speak  understandingly.  The  time  was  in  those 
lands  when  fermented  wine  was  not  called  wine  at  all,  but  it 
existed  under  other  names,  and  unfermented  wine  was  the  wine  ; 
and  the  fact  that  at  the  time  the  above  missionaries  wrote,  fer- 
mented wine  had  come  to  be  the  only  wine  passing  by  the  name 
of  wine,  does  not  destroy  the  fact  that,  notwithstanding  their 
testimony,  there  is  a  wine  to-day  prepared  precisely  as  the 
ancients  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles  prepared  their  wine,  which 
they  called  wine.  Rev.  H.  Holmes,  American  missionary  at  Con- 
stantinople, in  regard  to  the  supposition  that  among  the  ancients 
the  chief  product  of  the  vine  was  fermented  wine,  says  :"Now,  as 
a  resident  in  the  East,  we  believe  sufficient  facts  can  be  adduced 
to  render  it  extremely  probable  that  this  supposition  is  erroneous, 
and  that  the  fabrication  of  an  intoxicating  liquor  was  never  the 
chief  object  for  which  the  grape  was  cultivated  among  the  Jews." 


7°  WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

W.  G.  Brown,  who  travelled  extensively  in  Africa,  Egypt,  and 
Syria,  from  A.  D.  1792  to  1798,  states  that  "the  wines  of  Syria 
are  most  of  them  prepared  by  boiling  immediately  after  they  are 
expressed  from  the  grape,  till  they  are  considerably  reduced  in 
quantity,  when  they  were  put  into  jars  or  large  bottles  and  pre- 
served for  use."  He  adds,  "There  is  reason  to  believe  that  this 
mode  of  boiling  was  a  general  practice  among  the  ancients." 

Volney,  1788,  in  his  "Travels  in  Syria,"  vol.  ii.  chap.  29,  says: 
"The  wines  are  of  three  sorts,  the  red,  the  white,  and  the  yellow. 
The  white,  which  are  the  most  rare,  are  so  bitter  as  to  be  dis- 
agreeable ;  the  two  others,  on  the  contrary,  are  too  sweet  and 
sugary.  This  arises  from  their  being  boiled,  which  makes  them 
resemble  the  baked  wines  of  Provence.  The  general  custom  of 
the  country  is  to  reduce  the  must  to  two-thirds  of  its  quantity." 
"The  most  esteemed  is  produced  from  the  hillside  of  Zouk— 
it  is  too  sugary."  "Such  are  the  wines  of  Lebanon,  so  boasted 
by  Grecian  and  Roman  epicures."  "  It  is  probable  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Lebanon  have  made  no  change  in  their  ancient 
method  of  making  wines." — Bacchus  (p.  374,  note). 

Dr.  Bowring,  in  his  report  on  the  commerce  of  Syria,  praises, 
as  of  excellent  quality,  a  wine  of  Lebanon  consumed  in  some 
of  the  convents  of  Lebanon,  known  by  the  name  of  vino  (for — 
golden  wine.  (Is  this  the  yellow  wine  which  Volney  says  is  too 
sweet  and  sugary?)  But  the  Doctor  adds,  "that  the  habit  of 
boiling  wine  is  almost  universal." — Kitto  (ii.  956). 

Caspar  Neuman,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry,  Berlin,  1759, 
says  :  "  It  is  observable  that  when  sweet  juices  are  boiled  down 
to  a  thick  consistence,  they  not  only  do  not  ferment  in  that 
state,  but  are  not  easily  brought  into  fermentation  when  diluted 
with  as  much  water  as  they  had  lost  in  the  evaporation,  or  even 
with  the  very  individual  water  that  exhaled  from  them." — Nott 
(Lond.  ed.,  p.  81). 

Dr.  Thomson  says  :  "  The  Moslems  make  no  fermented  wines ; 
they  boil  the  juice  down  to  preserve  it,  and  they  claim  to  have 
received  this  custom  from  the  remotest  antiquity." 


WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS.  ?i 

PRESENT   CUSTOMS    IN     WINE-GROWING    COUNTRIES     OF    EUROPE     AND 

ASIA. 

The  late  Rev.  Dr.  Duffield,  who  travelled  through  Palestine, 
("Bible  Rule  of  Temperance,"  p.  180),  says:  "The  modern 
Turks,  whose  religion  forbids  the  use  of  fermented  wine,  make 
use  of  the  inspissated  juice  of  the  grape,  or  'must,'  and  carry  it 
along  with  them  in  their  journeys." 

Dr.  Jacobus  says  :  "  All  who  know  of  the  wines  then  used  well 
understand  the  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape.  The  purest 
wines  of  Jerusalem  and  Lebanon,  as  we  tasted  them,  were  com- 
monly boiled  and  sweet,  without  intoxicating  qualities  such  as  we 
here  get  in  liquors  called  wines.  The  boiling  prevents  fermenta- 
tation.  Those  were  esteemed  the  best  wines  which  were  least 
strong." 

Rev.  Dr.  Eli  Smith,  a  missionary  in  Syria,  in  the  Bibliotheca 
Sacra  for  November,  1846,  describes  the  methods  of  making 
wine  in  Mount  Lebanon  as  numerous,  but  reduces  them  to  three 
classes.  First :  The  simple  juice  of  the  grape  is  fermented. 
Second  :  The  juice  of  the  grape  is  boiled  down  before  fermenta- 
tion. Third :  The  grapes  are  partially  dried  in  the  sun  before 
being  pressed. 

Dr.  Duff,  in  the  Missionary  Record,  1840,  describes  his  journey 
through  France  to  India,  and  says  :  "  Look  at  the  peasant  at  his 
meals  in  the  vine-bearing  districts  !  Instead  of  milk,  he  has  a 
basin  of  pure  unadulterated  blood  of  the  grape.  In  this,  its 
native  original  state,  it  is  a  plain,  simple,  and  wholesome  liquid ; 
which,  at  every  repast,  becomes  to  the  husbandman  what  milk  is 
to  the  shepherd ;  not  a  luxury,  but  a  necessary ;  not  an  intoxi- 
cating, but  a  nutritive,  beverage." 

In  1845,  Captain  Treatt  wrote  :  "When  on  the  south  coast  of 
Italy  last  Christmas,  I  inquired  particularly  about  the  wines  in 
common/use,  and  found  that  those  esteemed  the  best  were  sweet 
and  unintoxicating.  The  boiled  juice  of  the  grape  is  in  common 
use  in  Sicily.  The  Calabrians  keep  their  intoxicating  and  unin- 
toxicating wines  in  separate  apartments.  The  bottles  were  gene- 


72  WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

rally  marked.  From  inquiries,  I  found  that  unfermented  wines 
were  esteemed  the  most.  It  was  drank  mixed  with  water. 
Great  pains  were  taken,  in  the  vintage  season,  to  have  a  good 
stock  of  it  laid  by.  The  grape  juice  was  filtered  two  or  three 
times,  and  then  bottled,  and  some  put  in  casks  and  buried  in 
the  earth.  Some  keep  it  in  water  to  prevent  fermentation." — 
Dr.  Lees'  Works  (vol.  ii.  p.  144). 

Mr.  Alsop,  a  minister  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  wrote  to  Dr. 
Lees  in  1861  ("Pre.  Dis.  of  Bible  Tern.  Com."  p.  34)  :  "The 
syrup  of  grape  juice  is  an  article  of  domestic  manufacture  in 
almost  every  house  in  the  vine  districts  of  the  South  of  France. 
It  is  simply  the  juice  of  the  grape  boiled  down  to  the  consistence 
of  treacle.  *  *  *  As  to  the  use  of  ordinary  wine,  it  is  almost 
entirely  confined  to  the  men.  It  is  proverbial  that  if  a  young 
woman  is  known  to  be  in  the  habit  of  using  it,  she  is  unlikely  to 
receive  proposals  of  marriage." 

"The  reader  should  bear  in  mind  and  particularly  notice  that 
a  '  thick  syrup  will  not  undergo  vinous  fermentation,  and  that  an 
excess  of  sugar  is  unfavorable  to  this  process.'  But  it  will  undergo 
the  acetous,  and  become  sour.  This  our  wives  understand. 
For,  when  their  sweatmeats  ferment,  they  do  not  produce  alcohol, 
but  become  acid,  sour.  This  is  not  a  secondary,  but  the  first 
and  only  fermentation — by  the  inevitable  law  that  where  there  is 
a  superabundance  of  saccharine  matter  and  more  than  75°  of 
heat,  then  the  vinous  fermentation  does  not  take  place,  but  the 
acetous  will  certainly  and  immediately  commence." — Bible  Wines. 

PRESERVATION    OF   WINE   BY   EVAPORATION. 

"  Evaporation,  or  perfect  dryness,  prevents  every  kind  of  fer- 
mentation (Watts,  ii.  635  ;  Gmelin,  vii.  100).  This  was  easily 
attained  by  the  wine  being  put  in  large  bottles  and  suspended  in 
the  chimney,  called  fumarium.  '  Liquids  evaporate  at  tempera- 
tures below  their  boiling  point'  ('Fownes'  Chem.,'  10  ed.,  p.  46). 
The  Oriental  traveller,  Mr.  Buckingham  ('Travels  among  Arab 
Tribes,'  London,  1825,  p.  137),  was  treated  at  Cufr  Injey  to  cakes 
of  wine,  which  he  describes  as  a  very  curious  article,  probably 


WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS.  73 

resembling  the  dried  wine  of  the  ancients,  quite  hard  and  dry,  in 
shape  like  a  cucumber,  capable  of  being  kept  fresh  and  good  for 
many  months — a  welcome  treat  at  all  times,  and  particularly  well 
adapted  for  sick  or  delicate  persons  who  might  require  some 
grateful  provision  that  could  be  carried  in  small  compass  without 
risk  of  injury  on  the  journey.  He  also  describes  (p.  140)  this 
dried  wine  as  having  the  consistency  of  portable  soup.  Nor  is 
solidity  or  perfect  desiccation  necessary,  for  fermentation  demands 
a  great  degree  of  liquidity,  taking  place  only  when  the  solution  is 
sufficiently  diluted  with  water  (Watts,  ii.  630 ;  Gmelin,  xv.  268)." 

Dr.  Kerr,  in  his  "Unfermented  Wine  a  Fact,"  says:  "The 
Persians  sometimes  boil  the  duschab  (a  syrup  of  sweet  wine  or 
must)  so  long  that  they  reduce  it  to  a  paste  for  the  convenience 
of  travellers,  who  lay  in  a  stock  of  it  for  the  journey,  cutting  it 
with  a  knife,  and  diluting  it  with  water  to  serve  as  a  drink." — 
Travels  in  Muscovy,  Tartary,  and  Persia,  by  Adam  Olearius, 
Ambassador  for  Holstein,  by  Wicquefort  (lib.  v.  802). 

Olearius  adds:  "One  can  reduce  five  hogsheads  to  one,  say 
some  chemists,  and,  amongst  others,  the  celebrated  Mr.  Glauber, 
by  boiling  the  sweet  wine  or  must  down  to  a  fifth  part,  because 
there  is  no  apparent  sign  that  the  wine  loses  the  character  it  pos- 
sessed before  it  was  boiled ;  and,  after  that,  by  adding  as  much 
water  as  was  evaporated,  one  could  restore  it  to  the  same  quantity 
and  give  it  the  same  goodness  as  it  formerly  had." — Ibid.  (803). 

KEEPING   COOL   AND    SETTLING   THE 'WINE. 

Below  the  temperature  of  about  45°  fermentation  is  impossi- 
ble ;  and  fermentation  commences  in  the  gluten,  which  is  a  trifle 
heavier  than  the  rest  of  the  wine  ;  therefore,  if  the  wine  is  kept 
below  that  temperature  for  a  few  months,  or  even  weeks,  the 
gluten  will  settle  to  the  bottom  of  the  cask  as  lees  ;  which,  in  this 
case,  not  having  been  perverted  by  leaven,  have  a  good  corres- 
pondence. Then  the  wine  may  be  carefully  removed  from  the 
lees,  and  it  will  not  ferment ;  but  it  will  be  seen  that  the  wine 
has  lost  an  important  part  of  its  substance  (the  gluten),  and 
4 


74  WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

therefore  it  is  not  so  fully  the  fruit  of  the  vine  as  it  was  when 
first  pressed  from  the  grape,  or  as  boiled  wine  is  which  has 
simply  lost  a  portion  of  its  water,  which  can  be  readily  restored, 
when  the  wine  is  wanted  for  use  ;  but  this  method  of  preserving 
wine  was  well  known  and  frequently  practiced  by  the  ancients. 

"  Cato,  the  earliest  of  the  so-called  'rustic'  or  agricultural 
writers,  about  u.  c.  200,  describes  specially  the  mode  of  preparing 
must,  or  unfermented  wine,  thus  :  *  If  you  wish  to  have  must  all 
the  year,  put  the  grape  juice  in  a  flask  \_amphora~\,  seal  over  the 
cork  with  pitch,  and  lower  it  into  the  cistern  \_piscinq~\.  After 
thirty  days,  take  it  out ;  it  will  be  must  all  the  year'  ('  De  Re 
Rustica,' c.  120).  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  word  mustum 
first  appears  in  Latin  literature  in  the  age  of  Cato,  about  B.  c. 
200 ;  after  which  it  is  often  met  till  Pliny's  day,  three  centuries 
later. 

"Columella,  the  rural  writer,  more  fully  than  Cato  at  an  early 
age,  describes  (xii.  29)  the  mode  of  preparing  unintoxicating 
wine.  He  says  :  '  That  must  may  remain  always  sweet,  as  if  it 
were  fresh,  thus  do  :  before  the  grape-skins  have  been  put  under 
the  press,  put  must,  the  freshest  possible  from  the  wine-vat,  into 
a  new  flask,  and  seal  and  pitch  it  over  carefully,  so  that  no  water 
can  get  in.  Then  sink  the  flask  in  cold,  sweet  water,  so  that  no 
part  of  it  shall  be  uncovered.  Then,  again,  after  the  fortieth  day 
take  it  out ;  and  thus  prepared,  it  will  remain  sweet  throughout 
the  year.'" — Divine  Law  as  to  Wines. 

"Smith,  in  his  'Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities/  says:  'The 
sweet,  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape  was  termed  gleukos  by  the 
Greeks  and  mustum  by  the  Romans  —  the  latter  word  being 
properly  an  adjective  signifying  new  or  fresh.'  'A  portion  of  the 
must  was  used  at  once,  being  drunk  fresh.'  '  When  it  was  desired 
to  preserve  a  quantity  in  the  sweet  state,  an  amphora  was  taken 
and  coated  with  pitch  within  and  without ;  it  was  filled  with 
mustum  lixivium,  and  corked  so  as  to  be  perfectly  air-tight.  It 
was  then  immersed  in  a  tank  of  cold  fresh  water,  or  buried  in  wet 
sand,  and  allowed  to  remain  for  six  weeks  or  two  months.  The 
contents,  after  this  process,  was  found  to  remain  unchanged  for  a 


WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS.  75 

year,  and  hence  the  name,  aeigleukos — that  is,  *  semper  mustumj 
always  sweet.'  " 

"Chas.  Anthon,  LL.D.,  in  his  '  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman 
Antiquities,'  gives  the  same  receipt  and  definitions,  and  fully  sus- 
tains the  position  that  these  preparations  of  the  unfermented 
grape  juice  were  by  the  ancients  known  as  wine." — Bible  Wines. 

The  modern  application  of  this  method  of  keeping  wine  unfer- 
mented and  unintoxicating  was  thus  detailed  by  Philip  Miller, 
F.R.S.,  in  1768  :  "The  way  to  keep  wine  long  in  the  must  is  to 
tun  it  up  immediately  from  the  press,  and,  before  it  begins  to 
work,  to  let  down  the  vessels,  closely  and  firmly  stopped,  into  a 
well  or  deep  river,  there  to  remain  for  six  or  eight  weeks,  during 
which  time  the  liquor  will  be  so  confirmed  in  its  state  of  crudity 
as  to  retain  the  same,  together  with  its  sweetness,  for  many 
months  after,  without  any  sensible  fermentation." — The  Garden- 
ers' Diet.  (8th  ed.)  Art.  Wine. 

That  the  sweet,  unfermented  juice  of  grapes,  either  fresh  or 
preserved  by  the  various  processes  we  are  considering,  was  called 
wine  by  the  ancients  is  beyond  question. 

"Aristotle  says  of  sweet  wine  that  'it  is  a  wine  in  name,  but 
not  in  fact — //  does  not  intoxicate?  It  had  the  name,  therefore, 
even  in  his  day.  Josephus,  the  Jewish  historian,  paraphrasing 
the  dream  of  Pharaoh's  butler,  who  dreamed  that  he  took  clusters 
of  grapes,  and  pressed  them  into  Pharaoh's  cup,  and  gave  the 
cup  to  Pharaoh,  repeatedly  calls  this  grape  juice  wine.  Bishop 
Lowth,  1778,  in  his  ' Commentary'  (Isaiah  v.  2),  says:  'The 
fresh  juice  pressed  from  the  grape'  was  by  Herodotus  styled 
oinos  ampelinos,  that  is,  wine  of  the  vine." — Wine  of  the  Wordy 
by  Rev.  Dr+  Herrick  Johnson. 

FILTERING   WINE   TO   PREVENT   FERMENTATION. 

The  ancients  were  in  the  habit  of  repeatedly  filtering  their 
wines  to  prevent  fermentation.  As  we  have  already  stated,  fer- 
mentation commences  in  the  gluten,  which  is  a  thick,  jelly-like 
substance,  or  the  bread  portion  of  the  wine,  which  does  not  so 
readily  pass  through  fine  substances  like  felt,  wool,  or  linen  bags, 


76  WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

or  whatever  material  was  used  by  the  ancients  in  making  their 
niters,  as  the  more  fluid  portions  of  the  wine ;  consequently,  by 
repeatedly  filtering,  and  thus  separating  the  gluten,  they  prevented 
fermentation  in  the  wine  which  passed  the  filter ;  but,  it  will  be 
seen  that,  as  in  the  case  of  keeping  cool  and  settling  the  gluten, 
they  lost  a  valuable  and  an  essential  part  of  the  wine,  or  the  part 
which  nourishes  the  body  of  man  as  good  does  his  spirit.  Still 
this  process  is  vastly  superior  to  the  process  of  fermentation,  even 
aside  from  the  latter's  contaminating  the  wine  by  leaving  in  it  a 
poison  which  will  cause  drunkenness,  insanity  and  disease ;  for 
fermentation  not  only  destroys  the  gluten  quite  as  effectually  as 
the  filter,  but  it  also  destroys  a  large  portion  of  the  sugar ;  and 
it  perverts,  precipitates,  or  changes  the  vegetable  salts  which 
the  Lord  has  so  carefully  organized  in  the  grape  for  the  good  of 
man.  Fermented  wine  contains  very  little  of  the  fruit  of  the 
vine  or  of  the  substances  organized  therein  unperverted. 

"Plutarch,  in  his  'Symposiacs,'  refers  to  the  way  of  preventing 
the  fermentation  of  wine  by  filtering,  as  explained  by  Dr.  Ure. 
Plutarch  says  :  '  Wine  is  rendered  old,  or  feeble  in  strength,  when 
it  is  frequently  filtered ;  this  percolation  makes  it  more  pleasant 
to  the  palate  ;  the  strength  of  the  wine  is  thus  taken  away  without 
any  injury  to  its  pleasing  flavor.  The  strength  (or  spirit)  being 
thus  withdrawn  (or  excluded),  the  wine  neither  inflames  the 
head  nor  infests  the  mind  and  the  passions,  but  is  much  more 
pleasant  to  drink.  Doubtless,  defecation  takes  away  the  (spirit, 
or)  potency  that  torments  the  head  of  the  drinker;  and,  this 
being  removed,  the  wine  is  reduced  to  a  state  both  mild,  salubri- 
ous and  wholesome'  Here  is  a  writer  on  conviviality — one  who 
associated  with  drinkers — who  asserts  that  these  unintoxicating 
wines  were  most  esteemed. 

"The  'Delphin  Notes  to  Horace,  lib.  i,  ode  2,  make  reference 
to  the  same  mode  of  preventing  fermentation.  '  Be  careful  to 
prepare  for  yourself  wine  percolated  and  defecated  by  the  filter, 
and  thus  rendered  sweet,  and  more  in  accordance  with  nature, 
and  a  female  taste?  Females,  as  we  have  seen,  were  not  allowed 
to :drink  intoxicating  wine.  It  was  this  kind  of  wine  which  Theo- 


WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS.  77 

phrastes  so  appropriately  called  'moral  wine?  The  mischief 
wrought  by  fermented  wine  ought,  long  since,  to  have  earned  for 
it  the  title  of '  immoral  wine.' 

"Cato,  and  other  ancient  writers,  give  similar  testimony.  The 
fact  that  these  receipts  were  furnished  to  the  public  is  very  good 
evidence,  of  itself,  that  such  wine  was  in  use. 

"The  numerous  authorities  already  cited  to  show  that  unfer- 
mented  grape  juice  is  wine,  also  prove  that  unfermented  wine 
existed. 

"  Here,  then,  in  spite  of  assertions  to  the  contrary,  is  the  thing 
which  we  call  unfermented  wine.  No  quibble  about  the  use  of 
terms  can  avail,  for  here  is  the  thing,  by  whatever  name  it  is 
called.  The  name  of  it  may  have  been  different  in  different 
ages  •  for,  as  we  have  seen,  Pliny  says,  that  intoxicating  wine, 
vinum,  was  once  called -temctum;  and  in  the  East  now,  krasion 
has  displaced  the  classical  oinos" — Communion  Wine,  by  Rev. 
William  M.  Thayer. 

PRESERVATION  OF  UNFERMENTED   WINE    BY   THE   USE   OF   SWEET   OIL. 

If  the  fresh  juice  of  the  grape,  that  which  results  from  only  a 
moderate  amount  of  pressure,  is  strained  through  a  linen  strainer 
once  or  more  ;  or  until  all  fragments  of  the  pulp  are  removed  and 
the  wine  is  perfectly  clear,  and  it  is  then  put  into  a  clean  bottle 
until  it  reaches  the  neck  of  the  bottle,  and  a  stratum  of  fresh 
sweet  oil  is  poured  upon  its  surface  until  it  reaches  the  depth  of 
an  inch  or  two,  and  then  the  bottle  is  corked,  the  wine  will  not 
ferment,  but  will  keep  fresh,  as  has  been  found  by  recent  experi- 
ments ;  thus  confirming  the  efficacy  of  one  of  the  methods  of  the 
ancients,  as  represented  by  the  following  engravings. 

"The  three  cuts,"  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samson,  "present  three 
distinct  processes  in  the  most  ancient  modes  of  preparing  unfer- 
mented wines,  alluded  to  on  pages  46,  54-57,  and  described  on 
pages  310-313  (of  his  work  on  the  'Divine  Law  as  to  Wines'  ). 
They  are  copied  from  sculptures  in  relief,  richly  painted,  found 
on  the  walls  of  tombs  at  Beni  Hassan,  in  Upper  Egypt.  They 
are  found  in  the  volumes  of  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson,  and  were 


78  WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

carefully  studied  by  the  writer  in  February,  1848.  The  tombs 
have,  at  their  entrance,  the  cartouche  of  Osirtasen  I.,  the  Pharaoh 
of  Joseph's  day. 

"Fig.  i  presents  the  twist-press,  the  "torcular"  of  the 
Romans,  and  specially  illustrates  the  straining  of  the  saccharine 
from  albuminous  ingredients  in  grape  juice  ;  the  cloth  of  the  sack 
preventing  the  pulpy  albumen  from  passing  out  with  the  watery, 
sugary  fluid.  Fig.  2,  the  tread-press,  exhibits  the  immediate 
drawing  off  and  storing  of  the  strained  juice,  which  issues  from 
the  upper  spout  of  the  vat  in  which  the  strainer  is  not  seen,  pours 
into  the  upper  tub,  and  is  thence  dipped  fresh  into  jars  and 
stored  in  the  wine-vault.  Fig.  3  shows  the  mode  of  preserving 
the  stored  grape  juice  ;  the  man  at  the  left  with  a  large  tureen, 
pouring  the  juice  through  a  cylindrical  spout  into  the  jars,  while 
the  youth  with  an  oil-scoop,  like  those  now  found  in  ancient 
tombs  in  Egypt,  Cyprus,  and  Greece,  pours  a  coating  of  olive  oil 
on  the  top  of  the  grape  juice  in  the  jars.  To  this  custom  of 
preserving  must  and  other  fruit  products  by  oil,  Pliny  and  Colu- 
inella  allude:  Columella  saying  (xii.  19)  that  'before  the  must 
is  poured  into  the  jars  (vasa),'  they  should  be  '  saturated  with 
good  oil.' " 

FUMIGATION. 

Dr.  Ure  states  that  fermentation  may  be  stopped  by  the  ap- 
plication or  admixture  of  substances  containing  sulphur ;  that 
the  operation  consists  partly  in  absorbing  oxygen,  whereby  the 
elimination  of  the  yeasty  particles  is  prevented.  Adams  in  his 
"Roman  Antiquities  "  on  the  authority  of  Pliny  and  others,  says 
"  that  the  Romans  fumigated  their  wines  with  the  fumes  of  sul- 
phur; that  they  also  mixed  with  the  mustum,  newly  pressed 
juice,  yolks  of  eggs,  and  other  articles  containing  sulphur." 

Count  Dandalo,  "  On  the  Art  of  Preserving  the  Wines  of  Italy," 
first  published  at  Milan,  1812,  says  :  "The  last  process  in  wine- 
making  is  sulphurization  :  its  object  is  to  secure  the  most  long- 
continued  preservation  of  all  wines,  even  of  the  very  commonest 
sort." — No  fa 


WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 
FIG.  i. 


79 


FIG.  2. 


nrn 


FIG.  3. 


So  WINES  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

So  it  will  be  seen  that  sulphurization  is  used  to  stop  fermenta- 
tion in  our  age. 

Dr.  Adam  Clarke  says  :  "  The  -Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin  words 
which  are  rendered  '  wine,'  mean  simply  the  expressed  juice  of 
the  grape."  Hence,  we  find  that  different  words  in  the  Bible 
are  translated  "wine,"  which  proves  that  wine  is  a  generic  term, 
and  covers  the  stores  of  all  sorts  of  wine  spoken  of  in  Nehemiah, 
v.  1 3.  At  the  present  day,  also,  the  term  is  used  in  precisely  * 
this  manner.  It  may  mean  grape,  currant,  raspberry,  whortle- 
berry, elderberry,  madeira,  port,  cherry,  and  a  hundred  other 
wines.  It  may  refer  to  new,  old,  sweet,  sour,  weak,  or  strong 
wines.  It  may  refer  to  enforced  or  unenforced,  fermented  or 
unfermented  wine.  Pliny  says  that,  in  his  day  (lib.  14,  cap.  22), 
the  term  covered  "  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  different  kinds 

of  wine." 

• 

.  There  were  various  other  methods  for  preserving  wine  from 
fermentation  employed  among  the  ancients,  such  as  mixing  it 
with  sea  water,  spices,  etc.,  but  it  is  unnecessary  to  refer  to  them 
further,  as  we  have  already  noticed  those  most  frequently  used, 
and  those  least  objectionable. 

MODERN   UNFERMENTED   WINE. 

Norman  Kerr,  M.  D.,  of  London,  in  an  excellent  work  just 
published,  in  reply  to  Rev.  A.  M.  Wilson,  says  :  "  I  have,  time 
and  again,  examined  grape  juice  hours  after,  by  the  interference 
of  man,  it  has  been  expressed,  and  found  not  a  trace  of  alcohol ; 
and  I  have,  by  repeated  experiment,  proved  that  nothing  can  be 
easier  than  the  production  and  preservation  of  unfermented  wine. 
The  preparation  of  this  nutritious  and  cheering  non-alcoholic 
drink  is  as  speedy,  simple,  and  easy  as  the  manufacture  of  alco- 
holic liquor  is  tedious,  complex  and  difficult. 

"  Grape  juice  boiled  down  to  a  half,  a  third,  or  a  fourth  of  its 
bulk,  does  not  ferment  for  a  very  long  period,  and  then  only 
slightly  and  on  the  surface.  Three  months  ago  I  prepared  speci- 
mens of  these  unfermented  wines  of  the  ancients,  defriitum, 
one- half  evaporated  (Plin.  N.  H.  xiv.  9),  zxAsapa,  sirceum,  or  hep- 


MODERN  UNFERMENTED  WINE..  8. 1 

sema,  two-thirds  evaporated  (Plin.  ibid. ;  Ramsay  in  Smith,  Art. 
Vin.),  and  I  have  just  finished  using  them.  The  blood  of  the 
grape  was  poured  warm  into  ordinary  glass  bottles,  which  were 
sealed  as  wine  bottles  usually  are,  and  it  continued  unfermented 
and  free  from  alcohol  to  the  last.  And  I  had  the  pleasure,  not 
long  since,  of  enjoying  a  refreshing  draught  from  a  bottle  of 
Eastern  wine  more  than  four  years  old,  which  I  found,  on  chemi- 
cal examination,  absolutely  non-alcoholic." 

Rev.  Mr.  Wilson  declared  that,  "  It  must  have  been  simply 
impossible  for  the  ancients  to  have  preserved  their  juice  liquid 
and  unfermented,  unless  they  had  boiled  it  in  air-tight  flasks, 
or  had  expressed  it  in  an  atmosphere  of  hydrogen  and  carbonic 
acid,  or  had  subjected  it  to  a  steaming  process,  and  preserved 
it  in  vacua.  But  they  trode  their  grapes  in  an  open  wine-press, 
and  pressed  out  the  juice  in  an  open  vat,  in  the  open  air,  so  that 
fermentation  was  inevitable." 

In  answer  to  this  statement,  Dr.  Kerr,  after  referring  to  the 
various  processes  by  which  wine  was  preserved  free  from  fermen- 
tation by  the  ancients,  and  is  so  preserved  at  this  day,  says : 
"  It  may  be  very  wrong  of  me  to  drink  the  impossible,  but 
this  morning,  and  every  morning  tor  the  last  three  weeks, 
I  have  drank  of  a  most  pleasing  and  refreshing  liquor,  cheer- 
ing to  the  heart  and  nourishing  to  the  body,  as  thin  as  any 
full-bodied  Tokay,  four  years  and  a-half  old — the  pure  juice  of 
the  grape  boiled.  It  was  imported  in  casks  from  the  East,  and. 
after  undergoing  the  great  heat  of  a  prolonged  voyage  on  the 
Mediterranean,  was  poured  into  Winchester  quarts,  the  corks 
being  sealed  as  those  of  whisky  jars  generally  are.  A  month  ago 
the  liquor,  after  being  carefully  examined  and  found  absolutely 
free  from  alcohol,  was  decanted,  and  though  it  has  been  kept  in 
common  wine  bottles,  it  has  shown  no  appearance  of  ferment- 
ing." 

After  stating  the  fact  that  grape  juice  does  not  begin  to  fer- 
ment immediately  on  exposure  to  the  air ;  and  that  a  period  vary- 
ing from  some  hours  to  several  days  elapses  before  the  process 
of  fermentation  and  the  formation  of  alcohol  begin  ;  notwithstand- 


82  MODERN  UNFERMENTED  WINE. 

ing  Rev.  Mr.  Wilson's  statement  to  the  contrary,  Dr.  Kerr  con- 
cludes as  follows  :  "  Therefore,  it  is  as  clear  as  the  light  of  the 
sun  at  noon,  that  the  existence  of  unfermented  and  unintoxicat- 
ing  wine  amongst  both  ancients  and  moderns,  is  not  a  myth,  but 
a  fact." 

Of  the  modern  unfermented  wine  he  says  :  "  This  nineteenth 
century  non-alcoholic  wine  (a  bottle  of  which,  taken  at  random 
out  of  my  wine-cellar,  where  it  has  been  for  four  years,  was 
analyzed  by  Mr.  Clifford  and  myself  on  March  23,  1878,  and 
found  absolutely  free  from  alcohol)  I  prescribe  largely  in  the 
treatment  of  such  diseases  as  fever,  consumption,  and  that  most 
depressing  malady,  dyspepsia,  from  one  of  the  Protean  forms  of 
which  Timothy  may  have  suffered  when  he  received  the  prescrip- 
tion of  probably  a  like  wine  from  the  Apostle  Paul." 


GRAPE    JELLY. 

Grape  jelly,  if  properly  prepared,  is  one  of  the  most  palatable,  nourishing 
and  useful  of  our  articles  for  food.  As  a  sauce  or  preserve  to  eat  with 
bread  and  butter,  or  on  meat,  or  fish,  there  is  in  the  estimation  of  the  writer — 
judging  from  his  own  taste — nothing  which  compares  with  it.  It  does  not 
dissolve  readily  in  cold  water;  but  in  hot  water,  by  a  little  stirring,  it  will 
dissolve  sufficiently  to  make  a  palatable  and  nourishing  drink. 

To  make  grape  jelly,  select  good,  clean,  ripe  grapes,  mash  and  boil  them 
in  their  own  juice  until  they  are  well  cooked,  then  strain  them  either 
through  a  fine  cullender  or  sieve,  or  a  coarse  linen  cloth  will  do.  Press 
or  rub  all  of  the  substance  of  the  grape  out  which  you  can,  leaving  as  little 
as  practicable  beside  the  skins  and  seed  behind;  then  boil  the  juice  for  a 
short  time.  If  your  grapes  are  "  meaty,"  you  will  not  need  to  boil  long, 
but  if  there  is  not  much  substance  to  them  you  will  need  to  boil  them 
longer.  Add  three-fourths  of  a  pound  of  sugar  for  every  pint  of  juice,  if 
the  grapes  are  grown  in  a  northern  latitude;  do  not  boil  long  after  adding 
the  sugar — only  long  enough  to  thoroughly  dissolve  the  sugar,  for  long 
boiling  with  sugar  impairs  the  flavor;  pour  it  into  glasses  or  jars;  or  can  it 
as  you  do  fruit.  It  will  keep.  You  need  not  fear  any  supposed  impurities  in 
this  fruit  of  the  vine,  which  seem  to  trouble  our  wine-drinking  friends  so 
much,  for  the  Lord  has  carefully  organized  this  substance  in  the  grape  for 
your  use,  and  He  has  made  no  mistake.  It  is  the  drinkers  of  fermented 
wine  who  have  made  so  sad  an  error. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

DRUNKENNESS   IN  WINE  GROWING  AND    BEER  CONSUMING   COUNTRIES. 

IF  we  look  back  upon  the  history  of  the  world,  from  the 
days  of  Noah  down  to  the  present  time,  we  find  that  drunkenness 
has  been  one  of  the  most  fearful  and  destructive  of  the  evils 
which  have  afflicted  our  race.  Before  the  sixth  century  alcohol, 
brandy,  whisky,  and  all  distilled  liquors,  were  unknown  in  Bible 
lands ;  consequently  all  the  drunkenness  described  by  ancient 
authors,  and  so  severely  denounced  in  the  Bible,  was  from  the 
drinking  of  fermented  liquids,  and  generally  of  wine.  No  further 
reply  than  this  would  seem  to  be  necessary  to  show  the  utter 
absurdity  of  recommending  the  use  of  wine  instead  of  distilled 
liquors,  with  the  expectation  of  materially  modifying  the  evils  of 
drunkenness.  The  truth  is,  that  with  the  exception  of  the  very 
lowest  class  of  society,  the  present  drinking  habits  are  generally 
formed  by  the  use  of  wine  and  beer ;  and  if  we  can  only  stop  the 
use  of  these  fluids  we  shall  have  less  drunkenness ;  for  distilled 
liquors  are  so  repugnant  to  the  unperverted  taste,  that  there  will 
be  less  danger  of  drunkenness  than  now. 

We  take  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samson's  work,  "  The  Divine  Law 
as  to  Wines,"  the  following  statements  :  "  It  has  been  so  fre- 
quently claimed  that  if,  instead  of  preaching  total  abstinence 
from  all  intoxicating  drinks,  we  would  recommend  the  use  of 
wine  and  beer  instead  of  distilled  liquors,  we  should  do  more 
good  than  by  advocating  total  abstinence.  Here  the  work  of 
Honorable  Robert  C.  Pitman,  LL.D.,  Associate  Justice  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  Massachusetts,  just  issued,  and  entitled  '  The 
Problem  of  Law  as  to  the  Liquor  Traffic,'  comes  in  with  its 
special  testimony.  While  most  of  the  volume  is  devoted  to  the 
evils  of  distilled  intoxicants,  the  i9th  chapter,  entitled  the 
'  Milder  Alcoholics,'  brings  out  an  array  of  testimony  by  careful 


84  DRUNKENNESS  IN  WINE  GROWING 

observers  quite  unlike  that  of  casual  tourists  in  Europe.  Of  these 
gathered  testimonies,  the  following  are  specimens  :  In  France, 
Montalembert  said,  in  the  National  Assembly,  as  early  as  1850, 
'  Where  there  is  a  wine-shop,  there  are  the  elements  of  disease, 
and  the  frightful  source  of  all  that  is  at  enmity  with  the  interests 
of  the  workman.'  In  1872,  the  French  Government  appointed 
a  committee  to  report  on  the  national  vice  of  wine-drinking.  In 
the  report  of  their  Secretary,  they  say,  after  citing  the  fearful 
demoralization  produced  by  wine  before,  during,  and  after  the 
war  with  Prussia:  ( There  is  one  point  on  which  the  French 
Assembly  thought  and  felt  alike.  *  *  *  To  restore  France  to  her 
right  position,  their  moral  and  physical  powers  must  be  given 
back  to  her  people.  *  *  *  To  combat  a  propensity,  which  has 
long  been  regarded  as  venial,  because  it  seemed  to  debase  and 
corrupt  only  the  individual,  but  the  prodigious  extension  of  which 
has  resulted  in  a  menace  to  society  at  large,  and  in  the  tempo- 
rary humiliation  of  the  country,  seemed  incumbent  on  the  men 
to  whom  that  country  has  entrusted  the  task  of  investigating,  and 
remedying  its  evils.'  In  Switzerland,  Dr.  Guillaume,  of  the  Na- 
tional Society  for  Penitentiary  Reform,  states,  in  1872,  that  'the 
liberty  of  the  wine-traffic,  and  intoxication  therefrom,  is  the 
source  of  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  crimes  committed.' 

"  In  Italy,  Cardinal  Acton,  late  Supreme  Judge  at  Rome,  has 
stated  that  nearly  all  the  crimes  at  Rome  '  originate  in  the  use  of 
wine.'  Recorder  Hill,  appointed  to  gather  facts  abroad,  to 
influence  British  legislation,  reported  in  1858,  'Each  of  the  gover- 
nors of  state  prisons  in  Baden  and  Bavaria,  assured  me  that  it 
was  wine  in  the  one  country,  and  beer  in  the  other,  which  filled 
their  jails.'  American  legislation  as  to  wines  and  beers  is  but 
following  modern  as  well  as  ancient  experience ;  for  all  the 
dangers  attending  the  use  of  distilled  liquors  are  linked  to  the  use 
of  fermented  wines." 

"There  is  an  impression,"  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Fowler,  "that 
France  is  a  temperate  nation.  Men  ride  through  the  country  in 
the  better  class  of  cars  and  see  little  of  it,  because  the  matchless 
police  remove  the  nuisance ;  but  let  them  live  there,  and  live 


AND  BEER  CONSUMING  COUNTRIES.  85 

with  the  people,  and  they  will  change  their  minds.  Listen  to  the 
witnesses  :  Our  author,  J.  Fennimore  Cooper,  says  :  'I  came  to 
Europe  under  the  impression  that  there  was  more  drunkenness 
among  us  (Americans)  than  in  any  other  country.  A  residence 
of  six  months  in  Paris  changed  my  views  entirely.  I  have  taken 
unbelievers  about  Paris,  and  always  convinced  them  in  one  walk. 
I  have  been  more  struck  by  drunkenness  in  the  streets  of  Paris 
than  in  those  of  London.  Horace  Greeley  wrote  from  Paris : 
'That  wine  will  intoxicate,  does  intoxicate  ;  that  there  are  con- 
firmed drunkards  in  Paris  and  throughout  France  is  notorious 
and  undeniable.'  M.  LeClere  says  :  '  Laborers  leave  their  work, 
derange  their  means,  drink  irregularly,  and  transform  into  drunken 
debauch  the  time  which  should  have  been  spent  in  profitable 
labor.'  A  French  magazine  says  :  '  Drunkenness  is  the  beginning 
and  end  of  life  in  the  great  French  industrial  centres.  At  Lille 
twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  men,  and  twelve  per  cent,  of  the 
women,  are  confirmed  drunkards.' 

"The  Count  de  Montalembert,  member  of  the  Academy  of 
National  Sciences,  said  in  the  National  Assembly  of  France : 
'Where  there  is  a  wine-shop,  there  are  the  elements  of  disease, 
and  the  frightful  source  of  all  that  is  at  enmity  with  the  interests 
of  the  workman.'  M.Jules  Simon:  'Women  rival  the  men  in 
drunkenness.  At  Lille,  at  Rouen,  there  are  some  so  saturated 
with  it  that  their  infants  refuse  to  take  the  breast  of  a  sober 
woman.'  Hon.  James  M.  Usher,  Chief  Commissioner  of  Massa- 
chusetts to  the  World's  Exposition  in  Paris,  in  1867,  savs  :  'The 
drinking  habit  rnns  through  every  phase  of  society.  I  have  seen 
more  people  drunk  here  than  I  ever  saw  in  Boston  for  the  same 
length  of  time.  They  are  the  same  class  of  people  too.'  Hon. 
Caleb  Foote,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  writing  from  Paris,  after  large 
investigations,  denies,  in  toto,  the  •  theory  that  the  people 
of  the  wine-producing  countries  are  sober.  Dr.  E.  N.  Kirk, 
of  Boston,  says  :  '  I  never  saw  such  systematic  drunkenness  as  I 
saw  in  France  during  a  residence  of  sixteen  months.  The 
French  go  about  it  as  a  business.  I  never  saw  so  many  women 


86  DRUNKENNESS  IN  WINE  GROWING 

drunk.'    Surely  there  is  no  lack  of  testimony.     Look  at  the  other 
wine-growing  countries. 

"Rev.  E.  S.  Lacy,  of  San  Francisco,  six  months  in  Switzerland 
in  a  wine-growing  section,  says  :  *  Here  more  intoxication  was  ob- 
vious than  in  any  other  place  it  was  ever  my  lot  to  live  in.'  Before 
the  Legislative  License  Committee  of  Massachusetts,  Dr.  Warren, 
of  the  Boston  Biblical  School,  seven  years  a  resident  in  Germany, 
says :  '  Drunkenness  is  very  common  :  every  evening  drunken 
people  stagger  by  my  house.'  Rev.  J.  G.  Cochran,  missionary  to 
Persia,  says  of  a  wine -producing  section  :  '  The  whole  village  of 
male  adults  will  be  habitually  intoxicated  for  a  month  or  six 
weeks.'  Rev.  Mr.  Larabee,  another  missionary  to  Persia,  con- 
firms the  statement.  Even  priests  coolly  excuse  their  own 
irregularities  by  the  plea  of  drunkenness. 

"Thirty-five  or  forty  years  ago  England  attempted  to  suppress 
drunkenness  by  licensing  ale  and  beer,  yet  she  consumes  more 
alcohol  per  head  now  than  then.  The  consumption  of  alcohol 
has  increased  in  the  last  fifty  years  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
per  cent. 

"  Turn  to  America.  How  fares  it  in  California?  The  experi- 
ment fails.  A  State  Convention  of  the  friends  of  Temperance, 
in  October,  1866,  resolved  against  wine-growing.  Conventions 
of  Congregational  ministers  and  lay  delegates,  the  same  month, 
reached  the  same  result.  They  are  fully  convinced  that  the 
hope  of  temperance,  based  on  wine,  is  delusive.  This  case  has 
been  tried  till  the  State  exceeds,  perhaps,  all  others  in  corruption. 
Gommissioner  Wells  says  :  '  California,  with  her  cheap  wines  for 
temperance, '  in  the  year  ending  June  30,  1867,  sold  fourteen 
times  per  head  as  much  alcoholic  stuff  as  Maine  did,  and  more 
than  any  other  State.' 

"  Dr.  Holland,  who,  it  will  be  remembered,  some  time  ago 
wrote*  a  book  recommending  wine  as  a  substitute  for  alcohol — 
which  book  is  yet  quoted  as  an  authority  by  those  who  advocate 
this  theory — has,  since  his  late  travels  in  the  wine-growing  countries 
of  Europe,  where  he  had  an  opportunity  to  extend  his  observa- 
tions, declared  that  his  former  views  were  wrong ;  and  that  wine- 


AND  BEER  CONSUMING  COUNTRIES.  87 

drinking  is  a  great  producer  of  drunkenness  ;  and  that  if  we  wish 
America  to  become  a  nation  of  drunkards,  we  should  adopt  wine 
as  our  beverage. 

"  These  are  the  facts  concerning  the  wine-growing  countries. 
The  idea  of  substituting  wine  for  alcohol  in  the  interest  of 
Temperance  is  absurd.  I  have  protracted  this  part  of  the  argu- 
ment, because  the  enemies  of  this  law  are  seeking  to  have  wine 
and  beer  excepted  from  the  law.  But  do  it,  and  you  kill  the 
law ;  and  this  is  what  they  seek.  Beware  !  If  you  make  wine 
and  beer  abound,  drunkenness  will  much  more  abound. 

"  Against  this  evil  plan  we  can  only  thunder  the  facts  that  the 
countries  that  manufacture  and  drink  most  wine  are  those  that 
use  most  distilled  liquors,  and  have  the  largest  per  cent,  of  beastly 
wife-beating  and  child-beating  drunkenness.  Husbands  may  tell 
their  ragged  and  pleading  wives  that  they  can  stop  ;  they  guess 
they  know  who  drives.  They  can  stop  if  they  will ;  but  the  fact 
remains.  The  hundred  thousand  drunkards  that  annually  die 
were  all  moderate  drinkers  before  they  settled  down  into  '  old 
tubs.'  They  all  tippled  a  little  before  they  guzzled.  There  is  no 
disguising  the  fact.  Once  drinking,  there  is  no  way.  out  but  to 
face  about  and  let  it  alone,  or  go  through  into  hell." 


As  the  printer  does  not  like  to  commence  a  chapter,  except  at 
the  top  of  a  page,  and  the  writer  does  not  like  to  .send  out  blank 
pages — or  parts  of  such — the  reader  may  expect  to  find  in  this 
work,  here  and  there,  at  the  end  of  the  chapters,  subjects  considered 
which  do  not  legitimately  come  within  the  limits  of  the  subjects 
discussed  in  the  preceding  chapter.  The  great  aim  of  the  writer 
in  the  preparation  and  sending  forth  of  this  volume,  is  to  expose 
falses,  and  to  impart  useful  information,  and  thus  benefit  his 
fellow-man. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    "NEW   JERUSALEM   MESSENGER"   AND   INTOXICATING  WINES. 

IN  the  Messenger  of  February  pth,  1881,  appear  the  following 
editorial  comments,  in  answer  to  a  correspondent : 

"W.  J.  P.,  in  our  correspondence  department,  suggests  that  because 
'  falses  from  evil '  are  compared  to  '  such  wine  and  strong  drinks  as  induce 
drunkenness,' the  good  wine  of  the  Bible  must  be  unfermented.  On  the 
contrary,  we  think  the  '  wine  that  produces  drunkenness '  is  that  which  is 
taken  in  greater  quantities  than  in  its  proper  proportion  to  food.  Wine 
taken  with  the  food,  and  in  proper  proportion  to  it,  does  not  produce 
drunkenness.  Wine  alone,  or  out  of  proportion  to  good  food,  may  produce 
drunkenness,  and  hence  represent  'falses  from  evil;'  that  is,  truths  in  the 
character  without  their  corresponding  good  are  changed  into  '  falses  from 
evil.' " 

Well,  let  us  carry  the  editor's  interpretation  of  Swedenborg's 
comparison  of  falses  from  evil  to  intoxicating  wine,  over  to  his 
comparison  of  falses  not  from  evil  to  waters  not  pure,  for  if  true 
in  the  one  case  it  must  be  true  in  the  other  also. 

The  suggestion  is  made,  that  because  falses  not  from  evil  are  com- 
pared to  waters  not  pure,  therefore  the  good  water  of  the  Bible 
must  be  pure  water.  On  the  contrary,  exclaims  the  reasoning  of 
the  editor  of  the  Messenger,  we  think  the  "water  not  pure"  which 
may  cause  disease  but  not  drunkenness,  is  water  which  is  taken 
in  greater  quantities  than  in  its  proper  proportion  to  food. 
Impure  water  taken  with  food,  and  in  proper  proportion  to  it,  does 
not  produce  diseases  peculiar  to  the  quality  of  impure  water.  In 
other  words,  there  is  no  wine  or  water  which  in  itself  is  impure  ; 
it  is  only  rendered  impure,  because  it  is  not  taken  in  due  propor- 
tion with  food;  even  though  one  may  be  impure  from  the 
presence  of  the  poisonous  product  of  leaven  (alcohol) — which, 
as  we  well  know  is  a  deadly  poison,  causing  insanity,  drunken- 
ness, delirium  tremens,  and  sudden  death — or  the  other  with 
arsenic,  the  action  of  which  is  not  as  terrible  in  its  effects,  espe- 


THE  "MESSENGER"  AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  89 

cially  when  taken  with  and  in  due  proportion  to  food,  but  never- 
theless is  to  be  dreaded  by  every  sensible  man.  With  an  unwar- 
rantable assumption  to  begin  with,  and  a  few  grains  of  apparent 
(not  real)  truth,  scattered  through  it,  it  certainly  would  be  difficult 
to  find,  in  the  English  language,  in  so  few  lines,  such  strange  and 
pernicious  verbiage  ;  and  this  seductive  morsel,  is  sent  out  by  the 
general  body  of  the  New  Church  to  homes  where  dwell  our  guile- 
less and  inexperienced  youth.  Alas  !  Alas  !  for  our  Church. 

It  is  certainly  true  that  alcohol,  fermented  wine,  arsenic,  or 
any  other  poison,  in  a  given  quantity,  when  mixed  or  taken  with 
food,  will  not  be  as  readily  absorbed  and  taken  into  the  circula- 
tion, or  act  as  speedily  on  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach ; 
and,  consequently,  will  not  produce  such  speedy  or  violent  poi- 
sonous effects  as  when  taken  alone,  or  into  an  empty  stomach. 
Eut  who  is  to  judge  when  either  arsenic  or  intoxicating  wine  is 
taken  in  due  proportion  to  food,  as  every  man  is  governed 
by  his  taste  or  a  morbid  craving?  The  Messenger  must  acknowl- 
edge that  poisons  are  seductive,  because  they  cause  an  unnatural 
action,  followed  by  an  opposite  state  ;  consequently  an  unnatural 
demand,  and  an  unnatural  appetite,  which  absolutely  require  an 
increase  of  the  quantity  to  satisfy  the  demand  and  appetite. 
This  is  not  true  of  any  kind  of  natural  food  or  drink ;  and  the 
history  of  the  past  shows  that  no  poison  is  more  seductive  than 
fermented  wine.  Commencing  with  a  single  glass  with  food, 
presently  more  is  required  ;  until,  perhaps,  at  last  a  whole  bottle 
does  not  give  a  due  proportion  to  food,  according  to  the  actual 
feelings  and  desires  of  the  drinker.  From  drinking  this  seductive 
fluid  with  food,  it  is  but  an  easy  step,  which  Words  for  the  New 
Church,. \l  will  be  seen  has  already  taken,  to  advocate  the  drink- 
ing of  the  social  glass  of  wine — and  even  whisky — when  friends 
meet ;  and  then  the  life  which  leads  to  drunkenness  is  well  be- 
gun ;  and  the  road  is  clear  for  the  young  and  old  of  the  New 
Church  to  march  on  in  the  line  of  drunkards  hand  in  hand  to 
wretchedness  and  crime  ;  and,  if  not  prematurely  cut  off,  not  un- 
frequently  to  a  drunkard's  grave.  We  will  ask  the  Messenger,  in 
all  seriousness,  if  too  many  of  the  members  of  our  Church  are 


90  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MESSENGER" 

not,  at  this  very  moment,  travelling  that  road  ;  and  in  too  imminent 
danger,  to  make  such  justification  and  encouragement  of  this  ter- 
rible evil  of  wine-drinking  desirable  in  its  columns ;  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  danger  of  such  teaching  to  the  young. 

But,  as  has  been  shown  above,  it  is  not  true  that  fermented 
wine  can  be  taken  in  any  perceptible  quantity  with  food,  or  in  a 
quantity  which  the  Messenger  would  evidently  justify,  with  either 
impunity  or  safety.  We  have  already  called  attention  to  the 
great  danger  of  developing  an  uncontrollable  appetite  for  intoxi- 
cating drinks,  by  thus  using  wine  ;  and  now  we  will  let  that  able 
physiologist,  Dr.  Wm.  B.  Carpenter,  speak  as  to  the  effects  of  such 
moderate  drinking  of  intoxicating  beverages  as  the  Messenger 
encourages  :  "  It  cannot  then  be  imagined  that  even  a  small 
habitual  excess  in  diet,  induced  by  the  stimulating  action  of  fer- 
mented liquors,  can  be  without  its  remote  consequences  upon 
the  general  system  ;  even  though  it  may  be  for  a  time  sufficiently 
compensated  by  increased  activity  of  the  excreting  organs.  And 
the  disorders  of  the  liver  and  kidneys,  which  are  so  frequent 
among  those  who  have  been  accustomed  to  this  mode  of  living 
for  many  years,  without  (as  they  believe)  any  injurious  conse- 
quences, are  as  surely  to  be  set  down  to  it,  as  are  those  conges- 
tive and  inflammatory  diseases  of  the  abdominal  viscera,  which 
so  much  more  speedily  follow  habitual  excesses  in  warm  cli- 
mates." 

But  why  this  special  effort  of  the  editor  of  the  Messenger  to 
justify  and  encourage  the  use  of  intoxicating  wine  ?  It  is  well 
known  to  the  readers  of  the  Messenger  that,  over  a  year  ago,  an 
article  appeared  in  its  columns,  justifying  the  use  of  intoxicating 
drinks ;  and  that  the  present  writer  wrote  a  somewhat  lengthy 
essay,  in  which  he  endeavored  to  show,  that  according  to  the 
philosophy  of  the  New  Church,  the  science  of  correspondences, 
the  express  teachings  of  Swedenborg,  and  the  well-recognized 
laws  of  physiology,  alcohol  wherever  found  has  an  infernal  origin  ; 
that  it  is  a  poison,  and  one  of  the  most  deadly  and  insidious  ;  and 
that  in  all  its  effects  on  body  and  mind,  its  action  is  strictly  analo- 
gous to  the  action  of  falses  from  evil  on  the  soul  of  man.  He 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  91 

also  produced  unquestionable  evidence  that  there  were  two  kinds 
of  wine  in  use  among  the  ancients,  and  named  in  the  Bible — one 
intoxicating  and  the  other  not.  This  essay  was  violently  assailed 
by  several  writers,  and  all  of  the  assaults  were  based  upon 
assumptions  which  had  no  foundation  in  truth ;  such  as  that  the 
wines  spoken  of  favorably  in  the  Bible  were  always  fermented 
wines,  and  that  fermented  wines  must  be  good,  because  Sweden- 
borg  compares  fermentation,  and  the  changes  which  take  place 
during  the  fermentation  of  wine,  and  the  purification  of  alcohol, 
to  spiritual  combats  and  purification. 

While  printing  some  other  articles  upon  the  same  side  of  the 
question  on  which  we  stand,  the  editor  accumulated  several  arti- 
cles in  reply  to  our  essay,  full  of  such  assumptions ;  and  two  or 
three  short  articles  opposed  to  the  use  of  intoxicating  wine  ;  and 
printed  them  all  in  one  number  of  the  Messenger,  and  then  declared 
the  discussion  in  the  columns  of  the  Messenger  closed ;  thus  giving 
the  writer  of  this  work  no  opportunity  to  reply.  As  the  discus- 
sion was  opened  by  an  advocate  of  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks, 
and  the  writer,  of  course,  not  knowing  what  objections  would  be 
taken  to  his  article,  could  not  answer  them  before  he  knew  them, 
the  friends  of  temperance  did  not  feel  that  they  were  fairly  treated. 
But  the  writer  endeavored  to  do  the  best  he  could,  under  the 
circumstances,  to  bring  the  truth  before  the  minds  of  New 
Churchmen,  therefore  he  printed  what  he  had.  to  say  in  the  form 
of  a  tract,  and  sent  it  to  all  New  Churchmen  whose  names  he 
could  obtain.  So  much  for  the  past  course  of  the  Messenger. 

Well,  it  so  happened,  recently,  that  a  respected  correspondent 
of  the  Messenger  sent  the  editor  a  short  extract  from  Sweden- 
borg,  accompanied  by  three  lines,  intimating  that  it  was  possible, 
after  all,  that  the  advocates  of  intoxicating  wines  might  be  mis- 
taken in  some  of  their  conclusions  and  views.  The  following 
contains  the  correspondence  and  extract. 

FALSES    FROM    EVILS INTOXICATING    WINES   AND    STRONG    DRINKS. 

EDITOR  MESSENGER, — Perhaps  the  following  passage,  from 
No.  1035  of  the  "  Apocalypse  Explained,"  favors  the  idea  that 


92-.,       _      THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MESSENGER" 

the  good  wine  of  the  Bible  is  unfermented,  and  the  bad  wine  is 
fermented.  w.  j.  p. 

"  As  to  what  further  respects  the  insanity,  which  is  signified 
by  inebriation  and  by  drunkenness  in  the  Word,  it  is  not  from 
falses,  but  from  truths  falsified ;  the  reason  is,  because  truths  from 
heaven  act  into  the  understanding,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
false  from  hell,  whence  arises  dissension  in  the  mind  and  an  in- 
sanity like  that  of  a  drunkard  in  the  world ;  but  this  insanity  only 
takes  place  with  those  who  are  in  evil,  and  have  confirmed  the 
falses  of  evil  by  the  Word,  for  all  things  of  the  Word  are  truths, 
and  communicate  with  heaven,  and  falses  of  evil  are  from  hell ; 
but  from  the  falses  which  are  not  from  evil  spiritual  inebriation 
does  not  take  place,  for  those  falses  do  not  pervert  and  destroy 
spiritual  truths,  which  lie  inwardly  concealed  in  the  truths  of  the 
literal  sense,  for  they  do  not  thence  hatch  evil,  as  do  the  falses 
which  are  derived  from  evil.  Falses  not  from  evil  may  be  com- 
pared to  waters  not  pure,  which  being  drunk  do  not  induce 
drunkenness,  but  falses  from  evil  may  be  compared  to  such  wine 
and  strong  drinks  as  induce  drunkenness  ;  wherefore  also  that  in- 
sanity, in  the  WTord,  is  said  to  be  affected  by  wine,  which  is  called 
the  wine  of  whoredom,  and  the  wine  of  Babel  in  Jeremiah 
li.  7  :  '  A  cup  of  gold  is  Babel  in  the  hand  of  Jehovah,  inebri- 
ating the  universal  earth,  the  nations  have  drank  of  her  wine, 
therefore  the  nations  are  insane.'  " 

Now,  we  think  almost  any  intelligent,  liberal-minded  man,  who 
believes  in  fair  play  in  the  discussion  of  such  an  important  ques- 
tion as  the  one  under  consideration,  will  say  that,  after  having 
closed  the  discussion  against  the  advocates  of  total  abstinence  at 
the  very  time  when,  as  we  have  seen,  in  honor  and  fairness  he 
should  not  have  done  so,  if  he  felt  under  obligation,  from  any 
consideration  whatever,  to  insert  a  simple  extract  from  Sweden- 
borg's  works,  with  simply  the  three  lines  from  his  correspondent, 
he  might  have  let  it  stand  without  note  or  comment,  and  allowed 
his  readers  to  judge  as  to  what  is  taught  therein  for  themselves. 
But  no,  sir,  this  would  never  do  !  For  Swedenborg  distinctly 


AND  THE  WINE 

represents  that  there  are  two  kinds  of  wine ;  and  intoxicating 
wine  he  compares  to  falses,  and  not  simply  to  falses,  but  to  the 
worst  kind  of  falses — falses  from  evil — and  he  illustrates  it  so 
clearly  that  no  one  would  be  likely  to  mistake  what  he  means. 
Seeing  clearly,  it  would  seem,  the  emergency,  the  editor  of  the 
Messenger  takes  up  his  pen,  and  rushes  to  the  front  page  of  his 
paper,  and  gives  us  the  paragraph  which  is  presented  to  the 
reader  at  the  head  of  this  article.  Desperate  situations  require 
desperate  measures  of  defence.  Such  falses  as  are  used  to  justify 
the  use  of  fermented  wine,  in  a  fair  field  where  both  sides  are 
allowed  to  be  heard,  cannot  long  remain  covered,  for  they  will 
not  stand  a  thorough  investigation  in  the  light  of  this  new  day. 

Although  the  columns  of  the  Messenger  were  closed  against  the 
discussion  of  the  wine  question  more  than  a  year  ago ;  and  the 
editor,  as  we  have  seen,  could  not  admit  a  simple  quotation  from 
Swedenborg  comparing  intoxicating  wine  with  falses  from  evil,  sent 
him  by  a  subscriber,  without  an  attempt  to  destroy  its  force, 
yet  he  does  not  hesitate,  without  one  word  of  comment,  to  ad- 
mit a  sermon  from  a  New  Church  minister  containing  the  fol- 
lowing in  the  interest  of  intoxicating  wine  :  "  Before  fermentation 
the  grape  juice  in  the  wine  fat  is  turbid,  and  appears  full  of  im- 
purities. But  by  fermentation  the  impurities  are  removed,  the 
lighter  ones  are  thrown  off  from  the  surface,  and  the  others  sink 
to  the  bottom,  leaving  the  wine  clear  and  pure  for  use.  The  ne- 
cessity for  this  arises  from  the  fact  that  in  the  grape  juice  are 
many  crude  particles  of  foreign  substances  that  cannot  be  strained 
out,  separated,  or  removed  in  any  other  way  than  by  fermenta- 
tion." - 

We  ask  the  reader  if  the  latter  part  of  the  above  statement  is 
correct  ?  There  may  be  shreds  of  the  cellular  structure  of  the 
grape  and  cells  of  gluten,  if  heavy  pressure  has  been  used,  which 
render  the  juice  opaque  or  turbid  ;  the  ancients  we  know  separated 
them  by  boiling  and  skimming.  Virgil,  born  70  years  B.  c.,  says  : 

"  Or  of  sweet  must  boils  down  the  luscious  juice, 
And  skims  with  leaves  the  trembling  cauldron's  flood." 


94  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MESSENGER" 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  separating  all  substances  which  cause 
the  fresh  grape  juice  to  be  turbid,  by  simply  straining  or  filtering, 
as  we  all  know. 

If  the  recently  expressed  juice  of  grapes  is  turbid,  before 
fermentation  has  commenced,  it  is  not  because  it  contains  sub- 
stances which  are  impure,  as  represented  in  the  extract  from  the 
sermon  in  the  Messenger;  but  the  turbidness  is  caused  by  frag- 
ments of  the  pulp  composed  largely  of  gluten  ;  and,  if  the  wine 
is  allowed  to  stand  in  a  cool  place  below  45°,  they  will  settle  to 
the  bottom,  leaving  the  wine  clear.  But  if  fermentation  com- 
mences, this  heaviest  part  of  the  liquid — not  the  lightest  as 
represented  by  our  clerical  brother  above — will  rise  to  the 
surface,  for  precisely  the  same  reason  that  the  body  of  a  man 
drowned  generally  rises  to  the  surface  of  the  water  within  a  few 
days,  namely,  because  it  is  distended  with  gas  which  results  from 
its  own  decomposition.  In  other  words,  the  leaven  or  ferment 
has  destroyed  this  gluten,  and  casts  it  out  by  the  aid  of  the 
poisonous  gas  which  it  has  developed.  If,  instead  of  being  cast 
out  by  leaven,  it  is  allowed  to  settle  to  the  bottom  as  lees,  such 
lees  have  a  good  correspondence  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  for 
this  gluten  is  good,  useful,  and  pure ;  and  it  is  never  impure 
before  ferment  assails  and  destroys  it,  or  before  decomposition 
commences. 

Can  either  the  reverend  gentleman,  or  the  editor  of  the  Mes- 
senger t  tell  us  what  the  impurities  and  foreign  substances  are, 
which  can  only  be  separated  by  fermentation  in  the  pure  juice  of 
the  grape,  called  must  or  new  wine,  as  it  flows  from  the  press, 
which  Swedenborg  tells  us  has  the  same  signification  as  wine  ? 
Is  the  gluten,  which  nourishes  the  body  of  man  as  good  does  his 
soul,  one  of  them  ?  This  is  to  a  great  extent  destroyed  and  cast 
out  by  fermentation.  Is  the  sugar,  which  is  so  delightful  and 
which  corresponds  to  spiritual  delights,  one  of  them  ?  This  is 
destroyed  and  perverted  into  alcohol,  a  most  deadly  poison.  Is 
it  the  phosphorus  which  is  so  necessary  for  the  brain  ?  This 
either  disappears  or  is  polluted  during  fermentation.  Do  the  vege- 
table acids  and  alkaline  salts,  so  carefully  organized  by  the  Lord 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  95 

in  the  grape  to  nourish  man's  tendons  and  bones,  belong  to  the 
impurities  and  foreign  substances  which  can  only  be  removed  by 
fermentation  ?  These  substances  are  perverted,  changed,  or  cast 
down  as  lees  by  fermentation ;  and  such  lees  have  not  a  good 
correspondence,  as  we  shall  see.  That  the  bread  or  nourishing 
portion  of  the  wine  is  thus  destroyed,  to  a  great  extent,  by  fer- 
mentation chemistry'shows  conclusively  ;  and  we  can  demonstrate 
the  same  fact  to  our  senses  by  a  very  easy  experiment.  Take 
some  new  wine  or  must  as  it  flows  from  the  press,  boil  it  and  you 
gradually  drive  off  the  water ;  and  by  continuing  your  boiling,  it- 
becomes  a  thick  syrup ;  boil  it  long  enough  and  it  becomes  a 
comparatively  solid  body ;  when  it  cools  you  have  lost  nothing 
but  water — the  food  portion  remains.  On  the  other  hand,  take 
fermented  wine  and  boil  it,  and  you  will  find  no  rich  syrup,  and 
little  or  no  solid  food  substance  remaining ;  for  it  has  been  de- 
stroyed by  fermentation.  Could  anything  demonstrate  more  con- 
clusively than  this  simple  experiment,  that  such  of  our  clergymen 
as  attempt  to  justify  the  use  of  fermented  wine,  by  comparisons 
found  in  the  Writings  of  Swedenborg,  have  totally  mistaken  the 
true  meaning  of  such  comparisons? 

Again,  as  has  been  intimated  elsewhere  in  this  work,  during 
the  process  of  spiritual  regeneration  good  overcomes  evil  and 
casts  it  out ;  and  man's  spirit  is  thereby  purified,  and  rendered 
clear,  like  wine  after  fermentation ;  but  in  the  fermentation  of 
wine,  as  we  have  seen  above,  exactly  the  opposite  takes  place  ; 
for  almost  all  of  the  nourishing  substances  organized  by  the  Lord 
in  the  grape  for  the  use  of  man,  which  correspond  to  good,  are 
overcome  by  the  ferment,  and  the  sugar  is  often  entirely  de- 
stroyed, if  the  ferment  has  had  a  chance  to  thoroughly  complete 
its  work,  and  either  changed  or  destroyed,  and  precipitated  as 
lees,  cast  out  in  the  form  of  poisonous  gases,  or  remain  in,  as  alco- 
hol and  vinegar,  to  pollute  the  wine  and  to  render  it  a  seductive 
and  poisonous  fluid,  which  will  cause  disease,  drunkenness,  and 
insanity,  if  used  by  man  as  a  drink. 

Again  :  if  the  grape  juice,  as  it  flows  from  the  press,  is  so  full 
of  impurities  which  can  only  be  removed  by  fermentation,  per- 


96  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MESSENGER" 

haps  the  author  of  the  above  sermon  can  tell  us  how  it  happens 
that  Swedenborg  declares  positively,  in  a  general  declaration,  that 
"must  signifies  the  same  as  wine,  viz.,  truth  derived  from  the 
good  of  charity"  (A.  E.  695),  and  that  new  wine  is  the  Divine 
Truth  of  the  New  Testament,  consequently  of  the  New  Church 
(A.  R.  316).  It  is  quite  certain  that  neither  party  to  this  con- 
troversy would  be  willing  to  admit  that  the  must  and  new  wine,  to 
which  Swedenborg  refers  above,  can  be  must  and  new  wine 
undergoing  the  process  of  fermentation,  which  are  hot,  and 
muddy  from  heterogeneous  substances  which  have  resulted  from 
the  destructive  action  of  ferment  upon  the  juice  of  the  grape. 
We  are  all,  then,  compelled  to  admit  that  unfermented  must  and 
new  wine  have  the  same  signification  as  wine  ;  and,  if  they  have  the 
same  signification,  is  it  not  certain  that  they  have  the  same  com- 
position— are,  in  fact,  the  same  fluid  only  modified  by  age  ?  The 
ancients,  we  are  told  by  ancient  authors,  as  we  have  seen,  did 
not  regard  their  boiled  wines  as  ripe  enough  for  use  until  they 
were  four  years  old ;  and  such  wines  two  centuries  old,  we  are 
informed,  were  not  unknown. 

Is  it  possible  that  any  intelligent  reader  of  the  Writings  of  Swe- 
denborg, who  has  carefully  examined  this  whole  subject  in  the  light 
thereby  afforded,  and  in  the  light  of  science,  can  for  a  moment 
suppose  that  fermented  wine,  in  which  such  a  large  portion  of  all 
that  corresponds  to  good  has  been  destroyed,  and  in  which  even 
the  water  contained  therein  is  polluted  by  alcohol,  the  product  of 
fermentation  and  vinegar  which  results  from  the  next  process  of 
decay,  can  be  the  wine  which  is  and  ever  has  been,  a  blessing  to 
man.  "Good  wine  is,  and  always  will  be,  found  at  the  'feast  of 
fat  things,  full  of  marrow/  which  the  Lord  is  constantly  offering 
man  on  the  mountain  of  his  love— '  wine  on  the  lees,  well  refined.' 
There  is  no  poison  in  the  wine  which  'makes  glad  the  heart  of 
man,'  none  in  that  which  the  good  Samaritan  poured  into  the 
wounds  of  the  man  who  fell  among  thieves  ;  none  in  that  which 
cheers  but  does  not  inebriate  in  declining  age.  The  highest  and 
most  holy,  earthly  emblem  of  the  truth  which  is  divine  is  wine." 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  97 

The,  Word  of  the  Lord,  the  writings  of  the  Church,  modern 
science,  and  the  common  sense  of  mankind,  based  on  common 
observation  of  its  effects  when  used,  all  tell  us,  as  we  have  seen, 
that  such  a  wine  is  never  a  wine  which  has  been  polluted  by  fer- 
ment. But  as  we  have  considered  Swedenborg's  comparisons  more 
fully  in  our  replies  to  writers  in  the  New  Jerusalem  Magazine,  and 
Words  for  the  New  Church,  it  is  unnecessary  to  say  more  here. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Cook,  in  a  sermon,  speaking  of  the  conse- 
quences and  danger  of  moderate  drinking,  says  : 

"  Do  you  say  that  I  am  declaiming  now,  and  leaving  the  ground  of  hard, 
stern  facts?  How  many  of  your  moderate  drinkers  can  be  insured  on 
the  same  basis  as  total  abstainers?  This  is  a  very  practical  question. 
Since  I  came  to  England,  I  have  been  studying  up  the  history  of  some 
of  your  life  assurance  societies,  and  I  hold  in  my  hand  literal  extracts 
from  their  own  documents — not  temperance  publications  at  all;  and  the 
great  outcome  is  that  the  total  abstainer  is  paid  from  7  or  10  up  to  15  and 
17  per  cent,  bonus  over  and  above  the  moderate  drinker.  That  is  an  actual 
result;  that  is  not  the  fancy  of  sentimentalism;  that  is  a  broad,  indisputable 
fact  which  Britons  ought  to  respect  as  the  result  of  experience.  Not  long 
ago,  one  of  the  assurance  societies  was  addressed  on  this  point,  and  made, 
through  its  secretary,  the  following  report — I  have  the  original  letter  in  my 
possession — '  During  the  past  sixteen  years  we  have  issued  9,345  policies  on 
the  lives  of  non-abstainers,  but  are  careful  to  exclude  any  who  are  not 
strictly  temperate,  and  3,396  on  the  lives  of  abstainers;  524  of  the  former 
have  died,  but  ninety-one  only  of  the  latter,  or  less  than  half  the  propor- 
tionate number,  which,  of  course,  is  190.'  Less  than  half  the  number  of 
abstainers  have  died  compared  with  the  number  that  have  died  among  non- 
abstainers  who  were  strictly  temperate;  and  this  is  after  an  experience  of 
sixteen  years. 

"  Are  life  insurance  societies  to  be  allowed  to  go  beyond  the  Church  in 
their  regard  for  the  health  of  men,  body  and  soul  ?  It  is  to  be  remembered 
that  many  whose  lives  are  assured  as  those  of  total  abstainers  were  not 
always  abstinent.  The  contrasted  figures  will  grow  yet  more  striking  when 
the  abstainers  are  such  from  birth.  These  societies  are  not  governed  ac- 
cording to  Biblical  rules;  they  are  not  governed  by  this  or  that  theory  in 
science.  Theirs  is  stern  common-sense  applied  to  a  selfish  problem,  and 
the  outcome  of  It,  under  long  experience,  is  like  a  peal  of  thunder  from 
Sinai.  It  is  high  time  for  the  pulpit,  it  is  high  time  for  the  pew,  it  is  high 
time  for  the  young  men  to  arouse  themselves  when  such  are  the  signs  of  the 
times  in  secular  societies.  Here  is  the  sea  rising  in  a  tide  that  kisses  the  Alps." 

5 


CHAPTER     VIII. 

THE    "NEW   JERUSALEM  MAGAZINE"    AND   THE   WINE   QUESTION. 

SEVERAL  articles  have  appeared  in  the  New  Jerusalem  Magazine, 
justifying  and  favoring  the  use  of  fermented  wine,  and  its  editors 
have  refused  to  admit  any  reply.  One  of  these  articles  we  noticed 
in  our  tract  on  "  Pure  Wine,"  and  the  most  important  part  of  it 
will  be  found  in  the  chapter  on  "Words  for  the  New  Church"  in 
this  work,  to  which  we  call  the  attention  of  the  reader,  conse- 
quently it  is  unnecessary  to  notice  it  further  here. 

InNo.  XL.(June,  1880),  the  reader  will  find  the  most  skillful 
and  adroit  attempt  which,  within  our  knowledge,  has  ever  been 
made  to  justify  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  by  or  from  the 
Writings  of  Swedenborg.  The  article  is  lengthy  and  strictly 
partisan ;  and  the  argument  which,  taken  by  itself,  is  quite 
plausible,  is  based  upon  a  single  paragraph  from  the  "Arcana;" 
but,  as  the  reader  will  observe,  it  ignores  the  philosophy  of 
Swedenborg  as  to  the  origin  of  good  and  evil  uses,  and  leaves 
unnoticed  a  large  number,  if  not  hundreds  of  passages  in  his 
works,  which  teach  a  very  different  doctrine ;  and  the  express, 
positive  declarations  of  Swedenborg  as  to  the  inherent  quality  of 
fermented  wine.  But  we  will  insert  the  essential  part  of  the 
article  from  the  Magazine,  so  that  our  readers  may  have  an 
opportunity  to  judge  for  themselves,  for  we  wish  them  to  view  both 
sides  of  this  important  question.  The  truth  is  what  we  all  should 
desire,  that  it  may  be  a  lamp  unto  our  feet ;  and  if  we  would 
travel  safely  we  must  walk  in  its  light,  and  allow  neither  precon- 
ceived ideas  nor  our  sensual  appetites  to  blind  us,  "  so  that  hav- 
ing eyes  we  see  not."  The  Magazine  writer  says  : 

"HAS  PURE    FERMENTED   SUBSTANCE   A    GOOD    CORRESPONDENCE? 

"  It  would  seem  that  no  doubt  can  remain  upon  this  point 
to  one  who  recognizes  the  truth  of  what  Swedenborg  teaches 

(98) 


THE    "MAGAZINE"   AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION'.          99 

upon  the  subject.  In  the  'Arcana,'  7906,  he  says:  'That  the 
leaven  denotes  the  false  may  be  manifest  from  those  passages 
where  leaven  and  leavened,  also  where  unleavened,  are  named,  as 
in  Matthew  Jesus  said  :  'Take  heed  and  beware  of  the  leaven  of 
the  Pharisees  and  of  the  Sadducees ;'  afterward,  the  disciples 
understood  that  he  had  not  said  that  they  should  beware  of  the 
leaven  of  bread,  but  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Pharisees  and  Sad- 
ducees (Matt.  xvi.  6-12),  where  leaven  manifestly  denotes  false 
doctrine.  Inasmuch  as  leaven  signifies  the  false,  it  was  forbidden 
to  sacrifice  upon  what  was  leavened  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice 
(Ex.  xxiii.  1 8,  and  xxxiv.  25)  ;  for  by  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice 
was  signified  holy  truth ;  thus  truth  pure  from  all  falsity.  It 
was  also  ordained  that  the  meat  offering,  which  was  offered 
upon  the  altar  '  should  not  be  baked  with  leaven'  (Lev.  vi.  17), 
and  that '  the  cakes  and  wafers  also  should  be  unleavened '  (Lev. 
vi.  n,  12,  13). 

"But  notwithstanding  these  laws  against  leaven,  and  being 
baked  with  leaven,  it  is  most  remarkable  that,  as  Swedenborg 
proceeds  to  say,  truth  cannot  be  purified  from  the  false  without 
what  answers  to  leavening.  He  says  : 

"'As  to  what  further  concerns  what  is  leavened  and  unleavened,  it  is  to 
be  noted  that  the  purification  of  truth  from  the  false  appertaining  to  man 
cannot  possibly  exist  without  leavening  (fermentation),  so  called,  that  is, 
without  the  combat  of  the  false  with  truth,  and  of  truth  with  the  false;  but 
after  that  the  combat  hath  taken  place,  and  the  truth  hath  conquered,  then 
the  false  falls  down  like  dregs,  and  the  truth  exists  purified;  like  wine 
which  grows  clear  after  fermentation,  the  dregs  falling  down  to  the 
bottom.  This  fermentation  or  combat  exists  principally  when  the  state 
appertaining  to  man  is  turned,  namely :  when  he  begins  to  act  from  the 
good  which  is  of  charity,  and  not  as  before  from  the  truth  which  is  of  faith; 
for  the  state  is  not  yet  purilied  when  man  acts  from  the  truth  of  faith,  but 
it  is  then  purified  when  he  acts  from  the  good  which  is  of  charity,  for  then 
he  aces  from  the  will;  before,  only  from  the  understanding.  Spiritual  com- 
bats or  temptations  are  leavenings"  or  fermentations,"  in  the  spiritual  sense, 
for  on  such  occasions  falses  are  desirous  to  conjoin  themselves  to  truths, 
but  truths  reject  them,  and  at  length  cast  them  down,  as  it  were  to  the 
bottom,  consequently  refine.  In  this  sense  is  to  be  understood  what  the 
Lord  teaches  concerning  leaven,  in  Matthew :  "  The  kingdom  of  the  heavens 


100  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MAGAZINE" 

is  like  unto  leaven  which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal 
until  the  whole  was  leavened  "(xiii.  33),  where  meal  denotes  the  truth  that 
gives  birth  to  good.  *  *  *  Because,  as  was  said,  such  combats  as  are 
signified  by  leavenings  or  fermentations  have  place  with  man  in  the  state 
previous  to  a  new  state  of  life;  therefore  also,  it  was  ordained  that  when 
the  new  meat  offering  on  the  feast  of  the  first-fruits  was  brought,  the  wave 
offering  should  be  baked  leavened,  and  should  be  the  first  fruits  to  Jehovah. 
(Lev.  xxiii.  16,  17).' 

"  From  this  we  see  that  though  leaven  represents  what  is  false, 
yet  we  cannot  come  into  genuine  good  without  conflict  with  it, 
which  involves  its  presence,  nor  without  passing  through  a  state 
of  spiritual  fermentation  answering  to  that  of  natural  fermenta- 
tion. Not  to  have  leaven  in  our  houses  is  to  banish  the  false 
from  our  minds  in  the  only  way  it  can  be,  by  successful  combat 
against  it  in  the  Lord's  strength,  which  actually  and  effectually 
casts  it  out  of  our  minds.  We  have  no  protection  against  the 
false,  and  all  our  tendencies  favor  its  presence,  until  in  conflict 
with  it  we  obtain  the  victory. 

"  As  man  is  not  pure  without  this  spiritual  fermentation,  so  the 
passage  teaches  us  that  the  juice  of  the  grape  is  not  pure  without 
natural  fermentation ;  and  that  by  the  process  of  natural  ferment- 
ation a  liquid  substance  is  produced  that  justly  represents  truth 
in  man  purified  from  the  false,  which  is,  in  substance,  the  good  of 
charity. 

"  It  is  especially  to  be  noticed  here,  not  only  that  the  purifica- 
tion of  the  juice  of  the  grape  is  effected  by  means  of  fermentation, 
but  also  that  of  meal  or  flour.  For  Swedenborg  says,  '  meal 
denotes  truth  that  gives  birth  to  good.'  As  truth  cannot  be 
pure  without  spiritual  combat  against  the  false,  which  casts  it 
out,  so  good  cannot  otherwise  be  rendered  pure.  And  when 
the  false  is  cast  out  by  its  subjugation  in  temptations,  then  both 
truth  and  good  become  pure.  And  so  if  we  think  of  things 
instead  of  terms,  we  see  that  as  leaven  is  the  false,  things  become 
unleavened,  that  is,  free  from  the  false  by  the  very  process  of 
what  is  called  leavening.  This  subject  is  treated  of  in  D.  P.  284. 

"That  there  is  a  real  relation  of  correspondence  between 
the  effects  resulting  from  a  successful  meeting  of  spiritual  temp- 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  101 

tation  and  the  product  of  natural  fermentation,  is  most  fully 
confirmed  by  the  statement  which  Swedenborg  makes  when  he 
says  'spiritual  combats  or  temptations  are  leavening s in  the 
spiritual  sense? 

"When  we  consider  what  leaven  represents — that  is,  the  false 
and  the  false  united  with  and  flowing  from  evil — we  can  under- 
stand why  it  is  so  severely  denounced  in  the  Scriptures,  and  why 
he  who  eats  it  shall  be  cut  off,  that  is,  be  destroyed  or  con- 
demned. It  means  that  the  appropriation  of  falsity  and  evil 
destroys  man's  spiritual  life. 

"But  when  we  understand  that  there  are  two  results  of  a 
nature  opposite  to  each  other  that  may  arise  out  of  the  presence 
of  the  false  that  causes  spiritual  fermentation,  one  of  which 
results  is  the  adoption  and  confirming  of  the  false,  and  the 
other  the  effectual  rejection  and  casting  out  of  the  false,  then 
we  can  see  that  the  former  result  is  what  is  aimed  at  in  the 
condemnation  and  not  at  all  the  latter,  which,  though  it  is  the 
presence  of  the  false  that  causes  the  fermentation,  could  never 
have  been  brought  about  without  it.  It  is  the  doctrine  of  the 
Pharisees  and  the  Sadducees — the  false  not  seen  as  false  and 
rejected,  but  confirmed — that  makes  deadly  leaven.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  false  seen,  guarded  against,  and  altogether  rejected, 
causes  the  leavening  in  its  result  to  be  the  effectual  establishing 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven — causes  it  to  be  what  is  represented  by 
the  '  leaven  which  the  woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of 
meal  till  the  whole  was  leavened.' 

"This  expression  is  very  suggestive;  for  a  woman  signifies 
affection  for  the  truth.  It  is  an  affection  for  the  truth  secretly 
fighting  against  the  false,  which  alone  can  cause  a  successful  result 
to  the  spiritual  fermentation. 

"Very  instructive  also  is  the  concluding  portion  of  the 
extract  given  :  '  Because  with  man  such  combats,  which  are  sig- 
nified by  fermentations,  exist  in  the  state  preceding  a  new  one  of 
life  ;  therefore,  also,  there  is  a  statute'  that  the  two  wave  loaves  of 
fine  flour  should  be  baked  with  leaven,  and  should  be  the  first 
fruits  unto  the  Lord. 


102  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MAGAZINE" 

"Waving  the  offering  represents  the  acknowledgment  of  the 
Lord.  Baking,  as  it  is  effected  by  fire,  represents  good  flowing 
in  from  the  Lord  when  He  is  acknowledged.  When  from  an 
affection  for  the  truth  we  have  fought  secretly  against  the  false, 
until,  in  despair,  we  cease  to  trust  in  ourselves,  and  look  to  the 
Lord  for  help ;  then  there  is  an  end  of  the  conflict,  and  the  good 
of  love,  which  the  baking  represents,  flows  in  from  the  Lord, 
and  the  leaven  of  the  false  is  effectually  removed.  Then  there 
exists  a  new  state  of  life,  or  a  state  of  new  life,  which  is  the  state 
for  receiving  the  Holy  Supper." 

The  Lord  says  in  Matthew,  that  "The  kingdom  of  the 
heavens  is  like  unto  leaven,  which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three 
measures  of  meal,  until  the  whole  was  leavened."  "Meal  in  the 
above  passage,"  says  Swedenborg,  "denotes  the  truth  that  gives 
birth  to  good."  It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  this  comparison 
in  its  literal  sense,  for  it  shows  the  gradual  progress  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  in  man  until  he  is  wholly  changed,  as  leaven 
progresses  until  the  whole  of  the  meal  is  leavened ;  nor  is  it 
difficult  to  understand  how  the  sure  and  steady  progress  of  the 
natural  leavening  may  even  correspond  to  the  sure  and  steady 
progress  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  man  during  his  regenera- 
tion. But  it  is  not  so  easy  to  understand  how  leaven,  in  any 
other  manner,  can  correspond  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  for  it 
is  the  kingdom  of  heaven  which  is  likened  unto  leaven,  and  not 
the  false  to  which  leaven  corresponds.  "The  woman  signifies 
the  Church"  (A.  C.  252,  253),  or  the  affection  for  truth  in  man. 
To  take  and  hide  would  seem  to  mean  to  apply  or  to  appropriate 
to  one's  self.  Now  for  man,  from  the  love  of  truth  which  the 
Lord  has  implanted  in  him,  to  seek  and  appropriate  the  false 
until  his  three  measures  of  meal,  or  all  the  truth  which  he  pos- 
sesses, which  should  give  birth  to  good,  is  falsified,  would  seem 
to  be  the  correct  interpretation  of  the  latter  part  of  the  above 
verse,  according  to  correspondences ;  and  if  we  can  regard  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  as  referring  to  the  perverted  state  of  the  germs 
and  remains  implanted  by  the  Lord  in  man,  it  may,  perhaps,  be 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  103 

the  correct  meaning ;  for  we  know  that  in  the  Word,  the  apparent 
truth  is  not  always  the  real  truth,  any  more  than  it  is  in  nature. 

Of  one  thing  we  feel  confident ;  and  that  is,  that,  after  reading 
the  numerous  passages  from  Swedenborg,  to  be  found  in  this 
work,  and  even  in  this  chapter,  the  reader  will  be  satisfied  that 
the  interpretation  given  by  the  above  writer,  in  the  New  Jerusalem 
Magazine,  of  the  above  parable,  and  of  several  of  the  passages  in 
the  paragraph  from  the  "Arcana,"  is  not  correct ;  for  it  does  not 
accord  with  either  the  Word  of  the  Lord  or  the  writings  of  the 
Church.  The  explanation  which  the  writer  has  suggested  as  to 
the  possible  true  meaning  of  the  parable  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  and  leaven,  may  be  as  far  from  the  truth  as  the  above 
writer's  explanation,  and  he  will  not  say  that  it  is  not ;  for  where 
he  has  not  the  clear  light  of  Swedenborg's  interpretation,  he 
treads  with  hesitancy,  and  would  do  so  carefully  and  not  dogmati- 
cally, leaving  every  one  to  judge  for  himself. 

What  are  we  to  think  of  the  ingenious  theory  of  our  brother — 
for  ingenious  it  really  is — speaking  of  the  fermentation  of  wine 
and  meal,  that :  "Things  become  unleavened,  that  is,  free  from 
the  false,  by  the  very  process  of  what  is  called  leavening,"  so  that 
the  wine  and  bread  which  have  been  through  the  process  of 
leavening  or  fermentation  are  really  unleavened  wine  and  bread  ? 
The  writer  confesses  that  this  is  a  new  idea  to  him,  and  he  does 
not  believe  that  it  was  ever  thought  of  before  by  Jew  or  Christian, 
and  certainly  not  by  Swedenborg;   for,  if  the  latter  had  ever 
thought  of  it,  and  had  thought  the  idea  true  and  useful,  it  is  quite 
certain  that,  among  all  of  his  frequent  references  to  unleavened 
and  leavened  bread  and  wine,  he  would  have  said  something 
about  it.     But  the  fact,  so  manifest  in  the  Writings  of  Sweden- 
borg, that  he  never  even  thought  of  applying  such  an  idea  to  the 
fermentation  of  material  wine  and  meal,  does  not  prove  that  it  is 
untrue.     If  true,  it  is  a  very  important  prop,  and  will  do  much 
toward  upholding  wine  and  whisky  drinking,  and  the  consequent 
drunkenness,  for  all  time  to  come.      How  the  Rev.  Dr.  Crosby 
will  rejoice  when  he  gets  hold  of  it !     But  unfortunately,  perhaps, 
the  writer  is  too  short-sighted  to  be  able  to  see  that  this  theory 


104  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MAGAZINE" 

is  correct.  In  fact,  when  applied  to  material  wine  and  meal,  he 
believes  it  to  be  entirely  erroneous  ;  and  his  reasons  will  become 
more  and  more  manifest  to  the  reader  all  through  this  chapter ; 
but  he  will  name  some  of  them  here.  The  essential  product  of 
fermentation  or  leavening  is  alcohol,  whether  it  be  wine,  bread, 
or  barley  that  is  being  fermented — that  alone  causes  drunkenness. 
In  the  case  of  bread  it  is  all  driven  off  by  baking  with  fire,  in  wine 
it  is  all  carefully  preserved.  Will  our  brother  tell  us  which  of  these 
substances  is  pure  and  unleavened  ?  It  is  perfectly  clear  that  one 
or  the  other  is  not  unleavened  according  to  this  new  theory. 
Let  him  boil  his  wine  until  all  the  alcohol  is  driven  off,  and  the 
writer  will  cease  to  controvert  his  theory ;  for  it  will  then  be  as 
harmless  as  baked,  leavened  bread.  The  bread  has  been,  in  a 
measure  at  least,  purified  by  fire,  but  the  fermented  wine  has  not 
been,  and  the  reader  will  please  bear  in  mind  that  it  was  the  bread 
thus  purified  which  was  offered  in  the  wave  offering. 

The  fundamental  mistake  of  our  brother,  and  of  other  writers 
who  attempt  to  justify  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  from  the 
Writings  of  Swedenborg,  lies  in  their  assuming  that  the  grape  and 
its  juice,  and  wheat  and  its  meal,  like  man,  have  fallen  from  their 
original  state  of  purity,  and  can  only  be  restored  by  fermentation ; 
as  man  is  purified  by  combats  during  regeneration.  While  we 
know  that  the  grape,  and  wheat,  may  become  uncultivated  and 
wild  from  the  neglect  of  man,  and  may  become  diseased,  yet 
there  is  not  one  word  to  be  found  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  nor  in 
the  Writings  of  Swedenborg,  nor  a  single  fact  in  science  to  show 
that  good,  clean,  healthy,  cultivated  grapes  and  wheat  are  not  as 
free  from  impurity,  and  as  capable  of  sustaining  and  supplying  the 
wants  of  the  human  body,  when  used  as  food,  as  they  ever  were. 
How  unreasonable,  then,  to  attempt  to  base  an  argument  in  favor 
of  intoxicating  drinks  upon  such  a  groundless  assumption. 

We  shall  see  that  Swedenborg  gives  to  the  grape  and  its  juice, 
and  to  corn,  or  wheat,  and  its  meal,  a  good  signification,  which 
he  certainly  would  not  have  done,  if  they  were  so  impure  that 
they  are  not  fit  for  human  food  and  for  sacramental  purposes, 
until  after  fermentation. 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  105 

Fermentation  or  leavening  is  but  the  first  stage  in  the  disor- 
ganization or  decay  of  certain  organized  substances,  and  alcohol 
i?  the  chief  product ;  the  next  change  produces  vinegar  in  wine 
and  a  similar  acid  in  bread.  In  fermenting  dough  it  requires 
great  care  to  prevent  the  bread  becoming  sour ;  and  the  same  is 
true  of  wine,  for  by  the  time  the  wine  is  well  fermented,  a  portion 
of  the  alcohol  has  passed  or  changed  into  vinegar ;  therefore  it 
is  questionable  if  there  is  a  single  gallon  of  what  our  brother 
would  call,  or  regard  as,  well  purified,  fermented  wine  in  the 
country,  which  does  not  contain  vinegar ;  and  much  of  it  a  com- 
paratively large  per  cent.  Now,  has  vinegar  a  good  correspond- 
ence ?  And  is  a  wine  containing  it,  pure  and  suitable  for  sacra- 
mental purposes  ?  We  think  not. 

Wine  is  not  regarded  as  fermented  or  leavened  wine  until  the 
process  of  fermentation  has  been  completed.  While  fermenting 
it  is  neither  called,  nor  regarded  as,  fermented  wine,  but  is  still 
new  wine  or  must ;  and  that  it  was  so  regarded  and  spoken  of  by 
Swedenborg  is  manifest ;  in  fact,  where  care  is  not  used  to 
prevent  fermentation,  new  wine  or  must  is  rarely  seen,  except  by 
the  maker,  in  any  other  condition  than  undergoing  the  process 
of  fermentation,  consequently  Swedenborg  speaks  of  it  as  disa- 
greeing with  the  stomach  ;  but  new  wine  or  must,  before  ferment- 
ation has  commenced,  although  containing  more  body,  may  be  as 
clear  as  fermented  wine,  and  in  a  given  quantity  is  more  accept- 
able to  the  unperverted  taste,  stomach,  and  head  than  fermented 
wine. 

In  the  above  article  from  the  New  Jerusalem  Magazine,  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  writer  assumes  and  attempts  to  prove 
that  the  juice  of  the  grape,  must  or  new  wine,  meal  and  flour, 
are  not  pure  until  they  have  been  through  the  process-  of  ferment- 
ation ;  and,  consequently,  before  they  have  been  fermented  they 
are  not  sukable  to  be  used  in  the  Holy  Supper,  and,  of  course, 
not  suitable  as  articles  of  food.  He  gives  us  to  understand  that 
not  being  pure  their  correspondence  is  not  good.  Right  here,  we 
will  bring  the  testimony  of  Swedenborg  as  to  the  inherent  quality 
of  the  liquid  which  is  produced  by  his  process  of  purification. 


io6  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MAGAZINE" 

"  Falses  not  from  evil  may  be  compared  to  water  not  pure, 
which  being  drunk  does  not  induce  drunkenness,  but  falses  from 
evil  may  be  compared  to  such  wines  and  strong  drinks  as  induce 
drunkenness."  (A.  £.1035.) 

Now,  surely,  if  unfermented  wine  is  not  pure,  as  our  good 
brother  represents,  it  never  causes  drunkenness,  like  his  wine 
which  has  been  purified  by  leavening ;  but  we  can  see,  from  the 
above  comparison,  that  unfermented  wine  is  to  fermented  wine 
what  pure  water  is  to  impure  water.  And  we  will  bring  another 
comparison  which  will  throw  a  little  light,  perhaps,  upon  one  of 
the  comparisons  upon  which  our  brother  has  based  his  arguments. 

"  Inasmuch  as  evil  is  contagious,  and  infects  as  a  fermenting 
body  infects  dough,  thus  at  length  infects  all."  (A.  C.  6666.) 
Infect  means  to  taint  or  corrupt. 

"  Good  uses,"  says  Swedenborg,  "  are  from  the  Lord  and  evil 
uses  are  from  hell.  Evil  uses  were  not  created  by  the  Lord,  but 
that  they  originated  together  with  hell."  (D.  L.  W.  336.) 
Among  the  evil  uses  he  enumerates  all  kinds  of  poisons — in  a 
word,  "all  things  that  do  hurt  and  kill  men."  (Ibid  339.)  Here, 
then,  is  a  criterion  by  which  we  must  judge  of  the  suitability  of  any 
article  for  nourishing  and  supplying  the  wants  of  our  natural  bodies. 
It  should  be  evident  to  every  one  that  substances  which  have 
their  origin  from  hell,  which,  when  used  as  we  use  legiti- 
mate articles  of  food  and  drink,  seriously  endanger,  hurt  and  kill 
men,  should  never  be  used  for  such  purpose.  Now,  gentle  reader, 
you  who.  desire  the  best  good  of  your  fellow-men,  we  ask  you 
seriously,  if  you  do  not  see  or  witness  all  around  you  a  radical 
difference  between  the  action  of  water,  milk,  and  the  unferment- 
ed juice  of  the  various  fruits,  and  the  action  of  fermented  wine, 
beer,  and  other  intoxicating  drinks  ? — all  resulting  from  the  de- 
struction or  perversion  of  good  and  useful  articles,  by  leaven,  a 
substance  unquestionably  having  its  origin  or  life  from  hell.  With 
what  you  have  witnessed  of  the  effects  of  such  liquids,  are  you 
surprised  to  find  that  Swedenborg  compares  intoxicating  wine 
and  other  strong  drinks  to  falses  from  evil,  and  that  he  deliber- 
ately calls  whisky  "  so  pernicious  a  drink"? 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  107 

With  the  philosophy  of  Swedenborg  as  to  good  and  evil  uses 
for  sustaining  the  body,  so  clearly  against  the  use  of  intoxicating 
drinks,  with  his  comparison  of  such  drinks  to  falses  from  evil ; 
and  with  his  solemn  declaration  that  intoxicating  drinks  are  so 
pernicious  that  their  immoderate  use  threatened  the  downfall  of 
the  Swedish  people  in  his  day; is  it  not  strange  that  any  reader  of 
his  works  should  search  carefully  through  them,  to  find  here  and 
there  a  passage  which  he  thinks  can  be  so  construed  as  to  justify 
their  use ;  thus,  perchance,  justifying  himself  and  encouraging 
others  to  pursue  a  course  of  life  which  has  destroyed  so  many  of 
their  fellow-men,  body  and  soul  ? 

To  render  Swedenborg  consistent  with  himself  and  with  well- 
known  facts,  as  we  believe  he  always  is,  we  shall  find  ourselves 
compelled  to  place  a  very  different  construction  upon  the 
quotations  made  by  our  brother  from  what  he  has  done.  We 
understand  Swedenborg's  meaning  is  simply  to  liken  the  combat 
which  takes  place,  of  the  false  with  truth  and  of  truth  with  the 
false,  in  the  purification  of  truth  from  the  false  in  the  regenera- 
tion of  man,  and  the  purity  of  truth  after  truth  has  conquered, 
to  the  fermentation  and  clearness  of  the  wine  after  fermentation ; 
for  he  says  that,  after  "  truth  has  conquered,  then  the  false  falls 
down  like  dregs  and  truth  exists  purified,  like  wine  which  grows 
clear  after  fermentation,  the  dregs  falling  to  the  bottom."  This 
would  seem  clearly  to  be  the  meaning,  and,  that  he  could  have 
had  no  reference  to  the  inherent  quality  of  the  resulting  wine 
excepting  its  clearness,  is  manifest ;  for  leaven  signifies  the  false, 
and  the  unfermented  must  or  new  wine  signifies  "  truth  derived 
from  the  good  of  charity;"  also,  "the  divine  truth  of  the  New 
Testament,  consequently  of  the  New  Church."  There  is  no 
evidence  to  be  derived  either  from  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  the 
Writings  of  Swedenborg,  or  from  science,  that  it  contains  any 
impurity,  or  anything  which  does  not  correspond  to  truth  and 
good,  most  harmoniously  united  in  the  fruit  of  the  vine  by  the 
Lord  for  the  nourishment  of  man. 

The  blood  of  grapes,  we  are  told  by  Swedenborg,  denotes  the 
good  of  love,  "  and  in  the  supreme  sense  the  Divine  Good  of  the 


108  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MAGAZINE" 

Lord  from  His  Divine  Love."  (A.  C.  6378.)  Does  the  above 
look  as  though  the  blood  of  the  grape  is  impure,  and  that  it  re- 
quires leavening  to  purify  it  ? 

"  '  And  the  floors  shall  be  filled  with  pure  corn,  and  the  wine- 
presses shall  overflow  with  new  wine  and  oil'  (Joel  ii.  24)  .  And 
again  (iii.  18),  'It  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day  the  mountains 
shall  drop  new  wine,  and  the  hills  shall  flow  with  milk,  and  all  the 
rivers  of  Judah  shall  flow  with  waters,  and  a  fountain  shall  go 
forth  from  the  house  of  Jehovah  ;'  speaking  of  the  Lord's  king- 
dom where,  by  new  wine,  by  milk,  and  by  waters  are  signified 
things  spiritual  whose  abundance  is  thus  described."  (A.  C. 


Do  presses  overflow  with  fermented  wine,  or  mountains  drop 
fermented  wine  ?  We  know  that  it  is  unfermented  wine  to  which 
reference  is  made  in  the  above  passages,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to 
understand  that  wine  and  new  wine,  when  spoken  of  in  a  good 
sense  in  the  Word,  always  mean  unfermented  wine.  There  are 
two  or  three  expressions,  in  the  quotation  from  Swedenborg, 
made  by  the  writer  in  the  Magazine,  as  a  basis  for  his  argument  ; 
which,  if  he  had  heeded,  we  think  would  have  shown  him  that 
the  ideas  in  regard  to  purifying  natural  wine  and  meal,  which  he 
has  advanced,  are  not  justified  by  the  quotation  he  has  made. 

First  :  It  is  "the  purification  at  truth  from  the  false  appertain- 
ing to  man,  (which)  cannot  possibly  exist  without  leavening, 
SO-CALLED"  —  or  without  combat. 

Second:  "And  the  truth  hath  conquered;"  but  supposing,  as 
in  the  case  of  fermented  wine,  the  truth  has  not  conquered  in 
the  combat  ;  what  then  ? 

Third  :  "Spiritual  combats  or  temptations  are  leavenings  inthe 
spiritual  sense"  Now,  if  the  writer  in  the  Magazine  had  read 
the  last  sentence  quoted  above  in  the  light  of  the  first,  it  would 
seem  that  he  could  hardly  have  failed  to  see  the  truth  upon  this 
important  subject. 

In  the  various  passages  which  we  have  quoted  from  the  Writ- 
ings of  Swedenborg,  in  regard  to  the  blood  of  the  grape,  and  must 
or  new  wine,  we  have  these  various  unfermented  products  of 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  109 

the  vine  having  a  good  correspondence,  according  to  Sweden- 
borg ;  but  the  reader  will  find  this  subject  more  fully  considered 
in  the  chapter  on  "Two  Kinds  of  Wine." 

Now  leaven,  signifying,  as  Swedenborg  tells  us,  "  evil  and  the 
false,  which  should  not  be  mixed  with  things  good  and  true" 
becomes  mixed  with  the  must  or  new  wine,  and  a  combat  ensues  ; 
but,  alas  !  for  the  argument  of  our  brother,  the  leaven  overcomes, 
conquers,  and  actually  destroys  the  most  of  the  sugar,  gluten,  and 
phosphorus,  and  casts  down  as  dregs  the  vegetable  salts,  all  so 
useful  to  nourish  the  material  body,  and  "  make  glad  the  heart  of 
man."  The  resulting  leavened  wine  is  full  of  a  poisonous  sub- 
stance or  liquid,  the  effete  product  of  leaven,  which,  as  to  its 
inherent  quality,  is  so  pernicious  that  Swedenborg  compares 
even  the  wine  which  contains  it  to  falses  from  evil,  as  we  have 
shown  elsewhere.  It  is  not  the  abuse  which  is  compared,  but 
the  wine  itself.  That  there  is  no  true  correspondence  between 
the  two  processes  is  perfectly  clear,  for  in  the  spiritual  ferment- 
ation or  combat  the  truth  overcomes,  or  should  overcome,  the 
false ;  whereas,  in  the  natural  fermentation  of  wine,  that  which 
corresponds  to. the  false  overcomes  that  which  corresponds  to 
the  truth  and  good,  and  actually  destroys  and  casts  it  down ; 
leaving  a  fluid  which  derives  its  life  from  the  activity  or  perver- 
sions wrought  by  the  leaven,  and  which  is  never  found  in  the 
grape,  nor  in  wine,  until  man  has  preserved  it  in  man  -  made 
vessels,  and  with  care  retained  it  at  a  certain  temperature  (and  in 
the  warm  climate  of  Syria  this  required  great  care),  and  leaven 
has  commenced  its  work  of  destruction.  It  is  then,  as  we  see, 
produced  by  the  action  of  leaven,  and  leaven  alone,  on  the  true, 
and  good  wine.  Is  it  possible,  we  ask,  for  such  a  fluid  to  have  a 
good  correspondence  ?  We  know  that  it  has  not,  by  its  effects 
on  man,  when  he  appropriates  or  drinks  it. 

The  above  writer  says  :  "  It  is  especially  to  be  noticed  here,  not 
only  that  the  purification  of  the  juice  of  the  grape  is  effected  by 
means  of  fermentation,  but  also  that  of  meal  or  flour.  For 
Swedenborg  says,  '  meal  denotes  truth  that  gives  birth  to  good.' 
As  truth  connot  be  pure  without  spiritual  combat  against  the 


HO  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MAGAZINE" 

false,  which  casts  it  out,  so  good  cannot  otherwise  be  rendered 
pure." 

Now  we  understand  this  very  differently.  Truth  and  good  as 
they  appertain  to  man  are  not  pure,,  but  as  they  come  from  the 
Lord  they  are  pure  ;  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  grape  and  its 
juice,  and  wheat  and  its  meal,  before  either  man,  leaven,  or  decay 
has  perverted  them ;  for  they  are  the  "  good  gifts  of  God  to 
man." 

This  view,  we  think,  is  abundantly  confirmed  by  Swedenborg, 
for  he  says  :  "  Flour  or  meal  signifies  celestial  truth,  and  wheat 
celestial  good."  (A.  R.  778.)  Are  these  impure?  Have  we 
any  natural  substances  of  a  higher  signification  ?  Fine  flour,  and 
also  meal,  denote  truth  which  is  from  good.  (A.  C.  9995.) 

Now,  my  reverend  brother,  do  you  really  think  the  above 
substances  can  be  purified  by  leavening  them  ?  No,  no  !  For 
"what  is  leavened,"  says  Swedenborg,  "  denotes  what  is  falsified." 
(A.  C.  8051.) 

"  The  thing  falsified,  which  is  signified  by  what  is  leavened, 
and  the  false  which  is  signified  by  leaven,  differ  in  this,  that  the 
thing  falsified  is  truth  applied  to  confirm  evil,  and  the  false  is 
everything  that  is  contrary  to  truth."  (A.  C.  8062.) 

"  By  its  being  unleavened,  or  not  fermented,  is  signified  that  it 
should  be  sincere,  consequently  from  a  sincere  heart,  and  free 
from  things  unclean.  *  *  *  Fine  flour  made  into  cakes 
in  general  represented  the  same  thing  as  bread,  viz.,  the  celes- 
tial principle  of  love,  and  its  farina  the  spiritual  principle." 
(A.  C.2i77.) 

Now,  does  it  appear  in  the  light  of  the  above  extracts  from 
Swedenborg's  teachings,  that  meal  requires  to  be  purified  by 
leaven  or  fermentation,  before  it  is  fit  for  use  ?  The  action  of 
leaven  upon  meal  or  dough  is  similar  to  its  action  on  wine ;  it 
destroys  and  perverts,  to  the  extent  it  progresses,  the  true,  good, 
and  useful  organic  compounds  which  exist  in  the  meal  or  flour ; 
but  as  the  dough  is  generally  put  into  the  oven  and  baked  before 
this  disorganizing  process  has  proceeded  so  far  as  to  waste  any 
considerable  quantity  of  it,  and  the  leaven  is  destroyed,  and  the 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  in 

chief  product  of  fermentation — alcohol — is  driven  off  by  heat  from 
fire,  which  signifies  love  or  good  from  the  Lord ;  for  this  reason 
the  bread  becomes  comparatively  harmless,  and  never  causes 
drunkenness  like  fermented  wine  ;  and,  therefore,  there  is  not  the 
same  objection  to  its  use  either  as  an  article  of  food,  or  in  the 
most  Holy  Supper,  that  there  is  to  the  use  of  fermented  wine  ; 
but  the  writer  would  not  recommend  it  for  the  latter  purpose,  yet 
he  would  many  times  rather  use  it  than  to  use  fermented  wine. 

Speaking  of  "unleavened  bread,"  Swedenborg  says:  "Un- 
leavened bread  is  good  purified  from  the  false."  (A.  C.  8058.) 

"  By  leaven  is  signified  the  false,  and  thus  by  unleavened  or 
unleavened  bread,  good  purified  from  falses."  (A.  C.  9287.) 

"That  hereby  is  signified  what  is  purified  from  all  falses, 
appears  from  the  signification  of  what  is  unleavened,  as  denoting 
what  is  purified  from  the  false  :  the  reason  why  unleavened  has 
this  signification  is,  because  leaven  signifies  the  false.  (A.  C.  7853.) 

"'And  ye  shall  observe  unleavened  bread,'  that  hereby  is  signi- 
fied that  there  shall  be  no  false,  appears  from  the  signification  of 
unleavened  bread,  as  denoting  what  is  purified  from  all  false." 
(A.C.  7897.) 

"The  reason  why  what  is  unleavened  signifies  what  is  purified 
is  because  leaven  signifies  what  is  false  derived  from  evil;  hence, 
what  is  unleavened  signifies  what  is  pure,  or  without  that  false 
principle.  The  reason  why  leaven  signifies  what  is  false  derived 
from  evil  is,  because  this  false  principle  defiles  good  and  also  truth, 
likewise  because  it  excites  combat,  for  on  the  approach  of  that 
false  principle  to  good,  heat  is  produced,  and  as  it  approaches  to 
truth  it  excites  collision."  (A.  C.  9992.) 

This  is  precisely  what  follows  when  leaven  approaches  new 
wine ;  the  wine  becomes  warm,  thick,  and  muddy.  A  very  useful 
lesson  is  taught  us  in  the  above  paragraph,  and  that  is  that  we 
should  shun  the  false  because  it  defiles  good ;  and  for  the  same 
reason  we  should  shun  leavened  or  fermented  wine,  which  we 
have  seen  corresponds  to  the  false,  for  its  use  defiles  both  body 
and  soul,  as  every  day's  observation  shows  us. 


112  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MAGAZINE" 

The  September  number  of  the  Magazine  publishes  an  article 
on  "Wine  in  the  Word  and  the  Doctrines,"  which  contains  some 
curious  statements,  to  say  the  least.  Among  them  the  following  : 
Speaking  of  the  "  extremists,"  in  the  temperance  reform,  the  writer 
says  :  "  Of  which  the  writer  wishes  to  say  that  he  is  an  earnest, 
and  for  his  brethren's  sake,  a  totally  abstaining  advocate."  And 
yet  our  brother  labors  with  might  and  main  to  justify  the  use  of 
fermented  wine  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Bible,  and  the  writ- 
ings of  the  Church. 

But  if  fermented  wine  is  a  good  and  useful  article  to  drink,  why 
does  he  abstain,  and  advise  others  for  their  own  sakes  to  totally 
abstain  from  its  use  ?  Is  it  not  perfectly  clear  from  the  above 
admission,  that  our  brother  regards  fermented  wine,  when  used 
as  a  drink,  as  a  seductive  and  dangerous  fluid  ? — and  that  it  is  not 
safe  for  any  other  man  than  himself  to  use  it ;  and  as  to  himself 
the  above  language  leaves  it  a  little  questionable  whether  he 
regards  it  safe  for  him  to  use  it  or  not.  The  present  writer  will 
simply  hint  to  him  that  it  would  be  unquestionably  more  dan- 
gerous for  him  to  use  it  than  it  would  be  for  many  other  men  ; 
for  it  seems  quite  clear  that  he  would  use  it,  if  he  were  to  use  it 
at  all,  if  we  can  judge  by  his  language,  in  violation  of  the  clear 
dictates  of  his  understanding,  and  the  promptings  of  his  con- 
science. It  is  never  well  to  act  thus. 

We  think  that  if  the  writer  had  examined  the  subject  a  little 
more  carefully  in  the  light  of  the  Word  of  the  Lord  and  the 
writings  of  the  Church,  he  would  have  hesitated  before  making 
the  following  positive  statement,  or  of  including  must  or  unfer- 
mented  wine  with  tirosh:  •  V  ' 

"  It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  the  attempt  to  make  the  Word 
commend  tirosh,  and  to  infer  that  sweet  wine  has  always  a  good 
signification,  is  not  only  unreasonable  when  we  think  of  the 
pervertible  nature  of  man,  but  utterly  breaks  down  when  we 
examine  the  passages  themselves." 

And  the  following  are  the  scriptural  illustrations  by  which  he 
attempts  to  justify  the  above  conclusions.  "Whoredom  and 
tirosh  \mustum~\  take  away  the  heart  (Hos.  iv.  n).  "They 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  113 

assemble  themselves  for   corn  and  tirosh  [musfum],  and  they 
rebel  against  me"  (Hos.  vii.  14). 

If  tirosh  has  a  bad  signification  in  both  of  the  above  passages, 
so  has  corn  ;  if  one  is  condemned,  so  is  the  other ;  but  it  seems 
perfectly  clear  in  the  light  of  a  careful  study  of  the  Writings  of 
Swedenborg,  that  neither  of  these  substances  in  the  passsages 
referred  to,  especially  in  the  last  one,  has  a  bad  signification.  In 
Swedenborg's  "Angelic  Wisdom,"  concerning  the  divine  love 
and  wisdom,  speaking  of  the  uses  for  sustaining  the  body,  he  says 
that  there  are  good  and  evil  uses  ;  and  that  the  good  uses,  or,  in 
other  words,  substances,  are  created  by  the  Lord,  and  are  useful 
to  build  up  and  sustain  the  body,  and  "make  glad  the  heart  of 
man."  "Corn  shall  make  the  young  men  cheerful,  and  tirosh 
\rnus  tum~\  the  maids"  (Zech.  ix.  17).  Good  uses,  Swedenborg 
informs  us,  can  be  abused,  but  abuse  does  not  take  away 
use,  except  in  those  who  abuse  them.  Now,  when  men  give 
themselves  up  to  a  gluttonous  use  of  corn  and  wine,  and  drink  sweet 
unfermented  wine  (as  we  are  told  by  ancient  writers  that  some 
of  the  ancients  did,  until  their  stomachs  could  hold  no  more, 
and  then  vomit  it  that  they  might  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  drinking 
again ) ,  although  it  never  causes  drunkenness,  it  becomes  an  abuse 
of  a  good  use,  but  it  does  not  change  the  substance  into  an  evil 
substance  or  use.  Cannot  our  brother  see  this?  Substances 
which  nourish  and  build  up  the  body,  giving  substance,  strength, 
and  health,  and  which  do  not  cause  disease,  are  always  good 
uses,  and  never  bad  uses ;  but  we  have  shown  above,  from  the 
testimony  of  Swedenborg,  that,  although  they  maybe  abused,  yet 
their  life  is  from  heaven  and  abuse  cannot  change  it. 

Of  a  totally  different  character  are  evil  uses,  Swedenborg 
informs  us.  Among  such  uses  he  classes  all  substances  which, 
when  used  as  food  or  drink,  do  hurt  and  kill  men.  He  assures 
us  that  they  have  their  origin  from  hell.  As  we  have  stated  else- 
where, of  no  other  substance  on  earth  have  we  such  long-continued, 
uniform  testimony,  sustained  by  our  own  observation,  that  it  hurts 
and  kills  men  as  we  have  that  fermented  wine  does  this ; 
and  it  not  only  hurts  and  kills  the  body,  but  it  also  debases  and 


114  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MAGAZINE" 

depraves  the  mind,  and  causes  the  most  fearful  delirium  and 
insanity. 

The  reader  should  bear  in  mind  that  must  is  used  to  designate, 
not  only  the  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape,  but  also- the  juice 
during  the  process  of  fermentation ;  and  that  during  the  latter 
state  it  is  polluted  by  ferment,  consequently  during  that  state  it 
has  an  evil  signification,  so  that  must  may  have  a  good  or  a  bad 
signification  according  to  its  state.  But  the  reader  will  find 
this  whole  subject  treated  more  fully  in  the  fourth  chapter. 

Again,  says  the  writer  in  the  Magazine  :  "  We  have  seen  that 
the  Word  has  yayin,  tirosh,  and  shechar;  that  it  uses  all  three  in 
both  a  good  and  bad  sense,  and  that  there  is  no  room  for 
argument  that  tirosh  is  alone  commended."  Now  we  have  read 
many  volumes  on  the  subject  under  consideration,  and  we 
remember  no  writer  who  argues  that  tirosh  is  alone  com- 
mended in  the  Word.  It  is  universally  admitted,  we  believe,  by 
the  advocates  of  total  abstinence,  that  yayin,  like  the  Latin  vinum 
and  the  English  wine,  is  a  generic  name  like  our  word  cider,  and 
includes  new  and  old  wine,  unfermented,  fermented,  boiled,  and 
that  which  is  preserved  by  filtering,  settling,  and  by  adding 
sulphur  and  other  materials.  We  do  know  of  one  writer  who 
claims  that  tirosh  is  only  used  for  the  fruit  of  the  vine  and  sweet 
or  unfermented  wine,  in  which  opinion  he  is  perhaps  mistaken, 
as  we  have  shown  above.  Again,  says  the  above  writer :  "  We 
notice  at  once  that  mustum  for  tirosh  is  used  (by  Swedenborg) 
carefully,  and  with  consistent  reference  to  its  use  in  the  W'ord." 

"It  means  the  'truth  of  the  natural  man'  (A.  E.  509); 
1  truth  from  good  in  the  natural'  (A.  E.  5117)  ;  'corn  signifies 
good,  tirosh  \_mus tum~\  natural  truth — of  the  rational,  bread 
and  wine  \vinum~\  are  predicated'"  (A.  C.  3580).  Again,  the 
above  writer  says  :  "We  have  seen  that  mustum  is  understood 
to  denote  good  in  the  natural,  or  good  which  is  exterior.  *  *  * 
The  result  of  some  study  is  the  conclusion  that  he  used  vinum 
for  fermented  wine,  as  opposed  to  miistum  for  unfermented." 
The  writer  gives  no  distinct  intimation  that  mustum  or  unfer- 
mented wine  has  ever  any  higher  signification  than  what  is 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  US 

natural  and  exterior,  and  thus  he  leaves  the  reader  to  infer  that 
such  is  his  opinion. 

Now,  we  ask  the  intelligent  reader  of  Swedenborg  if  the  above 
is  a  fair  representation  of  Swedenborg's  teachings  ;  and  if  the  con- 
clusions arrived  at  are  those  which  an  unbiased  mind  would  be 
likely  to  reach  after  a  fair  examination  of  this  whole  subject? 
Let  us  look,  and  we  shall  readily  find  a  few  passages  which  will 
certainly  give  a  very  different  view  from  what  he  presents  ;  and, 
on  a  more  careful  examination,  we  shall  find  that  there  are 
many  passages  which  go  to  show  that  unfermented  mustum 
or  sweet  unfermented  wine,  has  a  much  higher  -  signification 
than  that  represented  above.  Surely  no  one  will  pretend  that 
the  blood  of  the  grape  is  fermented  wine,  yet  we  read  that : 
"The  blood  of  the  grape  signifies  spiritual  celestial  good,  which 
is  the  name  given  to  the  divine  in  heaven  proceeding  from  the 
Lord."  (A.  C.  5117.)  Does  this  need  refining  by  man's  inge- 
nuity ? 

"Must,"  says  Swedenborg,  "signifies  the  same  as  wine,  viz., 
truth  derived  from  the  good  of  charity  and  love."  (A.  E.  695.) 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  above  is  a  general  declaration,  and  not  a 
specific  application,  as  in  the  instances  quoted  by  the  above 
writer.  Again,  we  are  told  that,  "  By  the  produce  of  the  wine- 
press was  signified  all  the  truth  of  the  good  of  the  Church,  the 
same  as  by  wine."  (A.  E.  799.) 

The  produce  of  the  wine-press  is  neither  more  nor  less  than 
unfermented  wine. 

Not  a  single  drop  of  fermented  wine  was  ever  produced  by  a 
wine-press  from  sound,  healthy  grapes.  Fermented  wine  is  pro- 
duced by  the  violent  action  of  ferment,  and  by  ferment  alone,  on 
the  juice  of  the  grape,  decomposing  and  destroying  the  organized 
substances  created  by  the  Lord  in  the  grape,  most  admirably 
adapted  for  the  sustenance  of  man. 

On  a  careful  examination,  it  will  be  difficult  to  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  new  wine  must  mean  either  the  unfermented 
juice  of  the  grape,  or  the  juice  during  fermentation.  Now, 
when  it  is  spoken  of  favorably  and  commended  in  the 


n6  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MAGAZINE" 

Word,  it  is  evident  that  it  must  mean  unfermented  juice  of  the 
grape  ;  for  surely  no  one  can  for  a  moment  suppose  that  wine  or 
must  during  fermentation,  full  of  ferment  and  the  heterogeneous 
substances  which  it  has  developed,  can  have  a  good  signification. 
Even  the  above  writer  cannot  claim  this. 

"  New  wine  "  (Luke  xv.  29),  says  Swedenborg, "  is  the  divine 
truth  of  the  New  Testament,  consequently  of  the  New  Church, 
and  old  wine  is  the  divine  truth  of  the  Old  Testament,  conse- 
quently of  the  Old  Church."  Now,  will  our  brother  tell  us  which 
has  the  highest  signification — new  or  old  wine  ?  We  have  abun- 
dantly shown  elsewhere  that  the  best  old  wines  of  the  ancients  in 
Bible  days  were  not  generally  fermented  wines,  but  that  they 
were  unfermented  wines. 

There  remains  but  one  subject  more  in  the  article  in  the  New 
Jerusalem  Magazine  which  requires  notice,  and  that  is  Sweden- 
borg's  comparisons ;  and,  although  we  have  already  considered 
them  in  writing  other  parts  of  this  work,  still  as  the  arguments 
of  the  New  Church  advocates  for  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks 
are  generally  chiefly  based  upon  these  comparisons,  we  will 
present  to  the  reader  the  comparisons  selected  by  the  above 
writer,  with  his  comments  in  full,  adding  a  few  notes  of  our  own  in 
brackets,  so  that  the  reader  may  have  the  latest  presentation  by 
our  opponents  of  the  comparisons  from  Swedenborg  before  him. 
The  writer  says : 

"He  (Swedenborg)  says  of  spiritual  fermentation,  that  'purifi- 
cation is  effected  in  two  ways,  by  spiritual  temptations  and 
fermentations  ;  the  former  are  combats  against  evils  and  falsities/ 
the  latter  are  'evils  and  falsities  which,  being  let  in,  act  like 
ferments  put  into  meal  and  unfermented  wines — mustis  [that  is, 
they  excite  combat] ,  by  which  heterogeneous  things  are  separated 
and  homogeneous  conjoined  and  made  pure  and  clear'  [mani- 
festly in  the  spirit  of  man  and  not  in  the  wine].  (D.  P.  25.) 

"This  is  unmistakable.  The  leaven  [spiritual leaven]  is  evil  in 
its  character.  The  result,  if  the  process  is  carried  out,  is  good, 
namely,  [spiritual]  purification. 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.       .  117 

"Again,  he  likens  the  reforming  process  to  the  fermentation, of 
vinum  or  sicera,  and  he  adds  : 

"  '  If  the  good  overcomes,  the  evil  with  its  falsities  is  removed 
to  the  sides  as  the  lees  fall  to  the  bottom  of  the  vessel,  and  the 
good  becomes  like  generous  vinum  after  fermentation  and  clear 
sicera.  [Becomes  clear,  like  generous  or  strong  wine  after 
fermentation].  But  if  the  evil  overcomes,  then  the  good  with 
its  truth  is  removed  to  the  sides,  and  becomes  turbid  and  foul 
like  unfermented  rinum  and  unfermented  sicera.1  (D.  P.  284.) 
[Wine  is  called  unfermented  wine  until  fermentation  is  completed, 
or  at  least  far  advanced ;  and  as  fermentation  generally  commences 
within  twenty-four  hours  from  the  time  the  wine  flows  from  the 
press,  if  no  measures  are  taken  to  prevent  it,  it  is  evident  that 
Swedenborg  had  in  mind  wine  in  this  state  ;  for  wine  in  which 
fermentation  has  not  commenced  is  neither  turbid  nor  foul,  and, 
as  we  well  know,  is  often  kept  for  years  without  becoming  either.] 

"  These  are  plain  words,  a  comparison  being  made  which  would 
not  be  made  if  clear  sicera  was  a  decayed  product,  nor  if  unfer- 
mented vinum  was  perfect  wine. 
"  So  again  we  read  : 

'"The  purification  of  truth  from  falsity  in  man  cannot  take 
place  without  fermentation,  so-called ;  that  is,  without  combat, 
But  after  that  the  combat  has  taken  place  and  the  truth  has  con- 
quered, then  the  falsity  falls  like  lees,  and  the  truth  exists  puri- 
fied ;  like  vinum,  which,  after  fermentation,  grows  clear,  the 
lees  falling  to  the  bottom.'  (A.  C.  7906.)  [By  spiritual  fer- 
mentation, so-called,  we  are  told  above  he  means  spiritual 
combat — falsity  falls  like  lees,  and  the  truth  grows  clear  like 
wine  after  fermentation — that  is  all.] 

"  That  this  was  Swedenborg's  full  understanding  of  the  process 
of  fermentation  also  appears  from  his  use  of  the  illustration  in  a 
letter  to  Dr.  Beyer,  dated  Stockholm,  December  2pth,  1 769,  in 
which,  speaking  of  opposition,  he  said  :  '  Such  a  noise  does  no 
harm,  for  it  is  like  that  of  fermentation  in  the  preparation  of  wine, 
by  which  it  is  cleared  of  impurities ;  for  unless  what  is  wrong  is 
ventilated  and  thus  expelled,  what  is  right  cannot  be  seen  and 


Il8  -  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MAGAZINE" 

adopted.'  [Fermentation  simply  clears  the  wine  of  the  impurities 
developed  by  the  ferment.] 

"  There  is  no  word  adverse  to  this,  so  far  as  is  known." 

With  all  due  respect  to  the  above  writer,  we  unhesitatingly 
affirm  that  Swedenborg's  writings  are  full  of  words  adverse  to  the 
construction  which  he  has  placed  iipon  the  above  comparisons 
which  he  has  selected  from  Swedenborg's  works.  To  admit 
what  the  above  writer  assumes,  would  be  to  admit  that  Sweden- 
borg  contradicts  himself  and  scientific  facts  with  which  he  was 
unquestionably  familiar,  which  is  not  true. 

The  above  writer,  and  others  who  attempt  to  justify  the  use  of 
fermented  wine,  assume  that  unfermented  wine,  as  it  is  squeezed 
from  grapes,  or  flows  from  the  press,  is  not  a  perfect  wine,  but 
that,  like  man,  it  has  fallen  ;  one  writer  assumes  that  it  contains 
earth-born  impurities,  and  that  as  man  is  purified  from  his  evils 
by  the  aid  of  evil  spirits,  flowing  in  and  exciting  them,  and  by 
man's  combat  against  them,  so  wine  can  only  be  purified  from  its 
impurities  by  the  use  of  leaven  or  ferment,  which  we  are  told  by 
Swedenborg  signifies  "  evil  and  the  false  which  should  not  be 
mixed  with  things  good  and  true." 

Now,  we  know  not  of  a  single  passage  in  the  Word,  or  in  the 
writings  of  the  Church,  or  a  single  scientific  fact  which  will  sustain 
the  assumption  that  the  wine  as  it  flows  from  the  press  contains 
any  impurities,  or  that  it  is  not  a  perfect  wine.  We  have  seen 
above,  that  the  blood  of  the  grape,  must  or  new  wine,  before 
the  process  of  fermentation,  has  the  very  highest  signification ; 
and  that  must  and  even  all  the  produce  of  the  wine-press  have 
the  same  signification  as  wine.  Where  then  are  your  impurities  ? 
Where  then  are  your  imperfections  in  this  good  product  of  the 
vineyard,  one  of  the  most  homogeneous  substances  in  the  world, 
organized  by  the  Great  Chemist,  for  nourishing  and  sustaining 
the  human  body,  and  containing  in  a  liquid  form,  most  wonderfully 
blended,  the  very  materials  required  by  the  body.  It  seems 
almost  a  profanation  to  talk  of  its  having  impurities  and  imper- 
fections. 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  119 

Until  ferment  commences  its  destructive  work,  wine  has  no 
impurities ;  but,  after  that,  it  speedily  becomes  turbid,  foul,  and 
full  of  heterogeneous  substances  ;  and  it  cannot  become  a  clear 
liquid  until  the  fermentation  ceases,  and  the  resulting  heterogen- 
eous substances  are  separated  from  the  liquid  by  falling  to  the 
bottom,  or  otherwise.  It  is  the  fermentation  compared  to  spirit- 
ual combats  and  the  clarification  of  the  wine,  producing  a  clear 
liquid,  which  Swedenborg  manifestly  intends  to  compare  in  the 
above  passages,  and  not  the  inherent  quality  of  the  resulting  fluid. 
Swedenborg  knew  very  well  that  fermented  wine  would  cause 
intoxication,  and  in  No.  1035,  A.  E.,  he  compares  such  wine 
to  falses  from  evil.  Does  that  look  as  though  he  thought  fermented 
wine  was  a  good  and  perfect  wine,  or  that  it  had  a  good  corres- 
pondence ?  He  knew  as  well  as  we  know  that  the  important  or 
chief  active  ingredient  in  fermented  wine  is  alcohol,  and  that  the 
alcohol  in  wine  is  in  every  respect  similar  to  the  alcohol  in  whisky, 
which  he  declared, long  after  his  illumination,  was  "so  pernicious 
a  drink." 

Fermented  wine  is  not  a  perfect  or  homogeneous  wine  ;  for  if 
the  process  of  fermentation  has  been  arrested,  by  bottling  and 
corking,  keeping  it  cool,  or  by  the  addition  of  alcohol  or  any 
other  substance,  which  will  either  prevent  or  check  the  fer- 
mentation, you  necessarily  have  unfermented  wine,  which  the 
above  writer  represents  as  an  imperfect  wine,  mixed  with 
the  fermented  wine,  whereas,  if  the  process  is  allowed  to 
go  on  until  it  is  fully  completed,  before  that  time  arrives  the 
acetous  fermentation  commences,  and  you  have  vinegar  mixed 
with  your  wine,  so  that  in  either  case  it  is  an  impure  and  polluted 
wine.  There  is  no  avoiding  this  conclusion. 

The  following  is  the  conclusion  of  the  Magazine  article  : 

"When  our  Lord  instituted  the  Holy  Supper,  he  used  the 
expression  'fruit  of  the  vine,'  and  this  has  been  declared  to  mean 
an  unfermented  drink  ;  but,  looking  merely  at  the  words,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  see  that  they  carry  on  their  face  any  such  meaning. 
Swedenborg,  in  speaking  of  this  act  (T.  C.  R.  708)  uses  always 


120  THE  "NEW  JERUSALEM  MAGAZINE" 

the  term  vinum.  The  Lord  gave  them  vinum,  saying,  '  This  is 
my  blood/  and  vimcm  signifies  Divine  Truth."  (T.  C.  R.  706.) 

Of  course,  vinum  signifies  divine  truth  when  it  is  applied  to 
unfermented  wine,  but  never  when  it  is  applied  to  wine  after  the 
process  of  fermentation  has  commenced.  Vinum  is  a  generic 
word  covering  all  kinds  of  wine. 

Says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samson  :  "  Not  a  shadow  of  doubt,  then, 
rests  on  the  fact,  that,  in  the  wisdom  of  Him  who  wished  His 
will  to  be  known  as  to  the  intoxicant,  which,  from  Noah's  fall  to 
our  day,  has  been,  as  Luther  styled  it,  the  sauf-teufel,  or  drink- 
devil  (the  tempter  of  Noah  being,  to  the  reformer's  mind,  the 
tempter  most  successful  since  the  flood) ,  not  a  shadow  of  doubt 
rests  as  to  the  fact  that  the  word  known  to  all  nations  was  selected 
by  divine  inspiration,  as  the  one  in  reference  to  which  the  least 
possible  mistake  could  be  made  in  the  records  which  teach  God's 
laws  as  to  the  beverages  whose  nature  must  be  learned  by  the 
effects  they  are  stated  to  produce.  Yayin  is  like  oinos,  and  vinum 
and  vin  and  wein  and  wine  as  universally  generic  as  it  is  univer- 
sally cognate ;  and  the  Divine  mind,  that  has  made  its  meaning 
in  all  human  literature  to  be  manifest  to  the  reader,  meant  that  it 
should  be,  as  it  certainly  has  been,  manifest  also  to  men  respon- 
sible as  translators." 

Chemistry,  as  the  writer  has  already  stated,  shows  that  in  no 
true  sense  is  fermented  wine  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  for  almost  all  of 
the  organic  constituents  of  the  fruit  as  contained  in.  grapes,  and 
the  wine  as  it  flows  from  the  press,  have  been  either  partially  or 
wholly  destroyed,  changed  or  precipitated  by  fermentation  ;  an  1 
alcohol,  which  will  cause  drunkenness,  disease  and  insanky 
(developed  by  the  destruction  of  a  heaven-born  substance,  sugar) 
becomes  the  chief  ingredient  in  the  wine,  j 

How  contrary  it  is  to  the  facts  in  the  case,  to  either  assert,  or 
pretend,  that  fermented  wine  is  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  or  that  it  was 
the  kind  of  wine  used  by  our  Lord  when  he  instituted  the  Holy 
Supper.  Unfermented  wine  is  truly  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  and  is 
nothing  else.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  question.  Let  us  either 


AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION.  121 

use  it,  or  let  wine  alone.  We  must  let  fermented  wine  alone 
if  we  would  live  in  safety ;  for  all  experience  shows  that  no 
man  can  use  it  with  assurance  that  he  will  not  become  a  drunkard  ; 
.  and  the  man  who  has  the  most  confidence  in  his  own  prowess 
will,  as  a  rule,  be  quite  sure  to  be  the  first  to  fall.  Brethren,  let 
us  beware  !  We  cannot  violate  the  laws  of  God,  as  manifested  in 
our  physical  and  mental  organizations,  with  impunity. 

A  writer  in  the  New  Jerusalem  Magazine  for  May,  1880,  says  : 

"There  is  no  poison  in  the  wine  which  'makes  glad  the 
heart  of  man,'  none  in  that  which  the  good  Samaritan  poured 
into  the  wounds  of  the  man  who  fell  among  thieves ;  none  in 
that  which  cheers  but  does  not  inebriate  in  declining  age." 

Every  word  of  which  is  true :  but  oh  !  when  the  above  writer 
assumes,  as  he  does,  that  the  kind  of  good  wine  to  which  he 
alludes  is  fermented  wine,  how  far  from  the  truth  he  is  can  be 
seen  at  a  glance.  We  know  that  there  is  poison  in  fermented 
wine,  and  that  it  every  day  makes  the  hearts  of  men  mad,  and 
their  wives  and  children  fearfully  sad,  and  never  glad.  Who 
would  think  for  a  single  morhent  of  pouring  such  an  irritating 
fluid  as  fermented  wine  into  fresh  wounds  ?  Such  a  wine  will 
inebriate  the  old  man  more  readily  than  the  middle-aged ;  and 
how  can  any  New  Church  writer,  when  Swedenborg  compares  it 
to  falses  from  evil  (A.  E.  1035),  represent  it  as  the  "most  holy 
earthly  emblem  of  the  truth  which  is  divine"? 

Have  we,  as  rational  and  accountable  beings,  (simply  to  gratify 
our  perverted  appetites)  a  right  to  enter  upon  an  unnecessary 
course  of  life,  and  to  teach  others  by  precept  and  example  to  do 
the  same,  which  the  experience  of  thousands  of  years  has  shown 
is  attended  with  such  fearful  danger  to  our  present  and  eternal 
welfare,  as  is  the  drinking  of  fermented  wine?  Have  we  a  right 
to  thus  endanger  the  happiness  and  welfare  of  those  whom  we 
should  love  by  such  a  course  ?  Will  our  friends  of  the  New 
Jerusalem  Magazine  answer  the  above  questions  ?  Will  they  tell 
us  where  the  "  enormous  sin  "  of  drunkenness  lies,  if  it  does  not 
lie  with  the  "beginners"?  The  drunkard  is  insane,  and,  conse- 
quently, comparatively  irresponsible. 
6 


CHAPTER     IX. 

THE  ACADEMY  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH,  AS  REPRESENTED  BY  ITS 
SERIAL,  "WORDS  FOR  THE  NEW  CHURCH,"  AND  THE  WINE  AND 
"WHISKY"  QUESTION. 

Words  for  the  New  Church  is  a  serial  controlled  by  the 
"Academy  of  the  New  Church,"  we  are  told  on  its  title-page. 
There  is  no  editor's  name  given  on  the  cover,  and  no  signature 
attached  to  either  of  the  reviews  which  are  noticed  in  the  follow- 
ing pages  ;  and,  as  now  nearly  or  quite  a  year  has  passed,  without 
any  exception  having  been  taken  by  either  the  Academy  as  a 
whole,  or  any  member  thereof,  either  publicly  or  privately,  within 
the  knowledge  of  the  writer,  to  the  ideas  and  style  of  the  reviews 
under  consideration,  the  writer  thinks  that  he  has  a  right  to  infer 
that  the  views  therein  contained  are  the  views  of  the  Academy,  as 
a  whole,  if  not  of  all  of  its  members.  He  will  therefore  speak  of 
them  as  such  in  the  following  pages. 

In  regard  to  the  first  of  these  reviews,  the  editor  of  the  New 
Church  Independent  says  : 

"In  Words  for  the  New  Church,  No.  VII.,  we  find  a  review 
of  Dr.  Ellis's  little  pamphlet  on  '  Lay-lecturing  and  Re-baptism,' 
very  much  of  which  is  so  insolent,  so  dogmatic,  and  so  untrue, 
that  we  should  not  care  to  reproduce  it." 

The  writer  has  long  known  and  respected  several  of  the  promi- 
nent men  of  the  Academy,  and  he  is  free  to  confess  that  he  was 
somewhat  surprised  at  the  language  used,  and  the  spirit  ap- 
parently manifested  in  the  two  reviews  contained  in  Words  for 
the  New  Church. 

Speaking  of  his  letter  to  the  Rev.  George  Field  on  the  subject 
of  "lay-lecturing  and  re-baptism,"  the  Academy  says  : 

"  This  waif  has  strayed  into  our  domain :  and  as  it  is  clad  in  garments  that 
might  give  it  an  entrance  to  homes  whose  doors  would  be  closed  against 
(122) 


THE  WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  123 

it,  were  its  intrinsic  quality  known,  we  feel  constrained  to  examine  the 
warp  and  woof  of  its  garments,  and,  if  possible,  to  show  what  it  is  in  itself. 

"This  brochure  is  divided  into  two  parts;  eight  pages  of  which  are 
devoted  to  the  subject  of  lay-lecturing  and  sixteen  to  re-baptism. 

"In  these  two  articles,  and  in  another  tract  by  the  same  author  on  the 
subject  of  wine-drinking,  he  assumes  to  be  a  New  Churchman;  and  he 
avails  himself  of  t\it  freedom  whfch  is  supposed  to  be  the  rightful  boon  of 
all  New  Churchmen,  to  oppose  or  ignore  the  teachings  of  the  Writings  of 
Swedenborg,  whenever  they  appear  to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  arguments. 

"  He  seems  to  have  fallen  into  the  same  error  with  many  other  would-be 
expounders  of  New  Church  doctrines,  of  feeling  himself  competent  to  evolve 
from  his  own  conciousness,  more  or  less  enlightened  by  cognitions — legiti- 
mate doctrines,  worthy  of  all  acceptation." 

Now,  gentlemen  of  the  Academy,  we  have  a  few  words  to  say 
to  you,  containing  a  little  useful  information  and  a  few  suggestions 
and  hints — nothing  more.  And  if  we  speak  in  rather  plain 
language,  in  what  we  have  to  say  in  reply  to  your  reviews,  it  will 
not  be  because  we  delight  in  using  such  language,  but  because  it 
sometimes  becomes  a  duty,  in  defence  of  a  good  cause,  to  talk 
plainly  even  to  those  who  have  been  appointed  to  teach  others 
the  way  to  heaven. 

Such  egotistical  and  dogmatical  insinuations  and  misrepresenta- 
tions, apparently  so  full  of  the  spirit  of  self-derived  intelligence,  as 
are  contained  in  the  above  extracts  from  your  serial,  and  in  others 
which  we  shall  select,  might  have  answered  their  apparent  pur- 
pose before  the  year  1 75  7,  in  an  old,  well-established  ecclesiastical 
organization ;  but,  in  this  new  age,  they  will  frighten  no  one ; 
they  may  amuse  some,  but  they  will  attract  a  less  number ;  and 
even  laymen,  you  will  find,  will  not  "down  at  your  beck."  If 
you  cannot  sustain  your  views  by  fair  and  legitimate  arguments, 
couched  in  courteous  and  gentlemanly  language,  you  may  as  well 
give  them  up.  "  He  assumes  to  be  a  New  Churchman  ! "  Strange 
language  this,  to  be  applied  to  a  brother  in  the  Church,  whose 
standing  has  never  been  questioned,  and  who  has  been  well  known 
by  his  writings  and  efforts  to  spread  a  knowledge  of  the  doctrines 
of  the  New  Church  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century; 
and  to  one  who,  perhaps,  has  done  as  much  within  the  last 
five  years  toward  spreading  a  knowledge  of  the  heavenly  doc- 


124  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE 

trines  among  his  countrymen  as  any  other  man.  He  has  written 
an  "Address  to  the  Clergy,"  of  twenty-four  pages  in  length,  and 
with  a  moderate  amount  of  assistance  tendered  by  others,  fifty- 
five  thousand  copies  have  been  printed  and  circulated;  fifty 
thousand  of  them  having  been  sent  to  clergymen.  The  second 
page  of  the  cover  of  this  tract  contained  a  circular  of  the  gift 
books,  and  the  last  two  pages  of  the  cover  and  one  of  the  body  of 
the  tract  contained  advertisements  of  many  of  the  Printing  and 
Publishing  Society's  works,  and  of  the  Convention's  books.  He 
has  also  written  about  one-half,  and  compiled  from  distinguished 
New  Church  writers  the  other  half,  of  a  work  of  two  hundred  and 
sixty  pages ;  of  which  twenty-six  thousand  copies  have  been 
printed  ;  twenty  thousand  of  which  have  been  sent  gratuitously  to 
clergymen,  and  six  thousand  have  been  printed  for  missionary 
use.  Upon  the  cover  of  this  work  were  also  printed  the  circular 
of  the  gift  books,  and  advertisement,  of  the  other  publications 
named  above.  As  a  result  of  the  circulation  of  the  above  works, 
some  thousands  of  clergymen  have  sent  for  and  obtained  the  gift 
books,  who  otherwise  would  not  at  this  time  have  been  likely  to 
have  them  ;  and  many  thousands  of  these  teachers  of  the  people 
have  some  knowledge  of  the  Writings  of  Swedenborg ;  and  it  is 
known  that  many  of  these  are  reading  with  interest,  and  that 
some  are  acknowledged  receivers  of  the  new  doctrines.  So 
quietly  has  all  this  work  been  done,  that  we  doubt  very  much 
whether  the  circulation  of  such  a  vast  number  of  pages  of  New 
Church  reading  matter  among  the  clergy,  or  even  the  works  them- 
selves, have  ever  been  noticed  in  the  Academy's  organ,  Words 
for  the  New  Church :  at  all  events,  if  such  a  notice  has  appeared 
in  that  serial,  the  writer  has  not  seen  it. 

Two  other  tracts,  however,  were  written ;  one  a  letter  to  the 
Rev.  George  Field,  and  another  on  the  wine  question,  which 
were  regarded  as  worthy  of  notice  by  the  Academy;  and  we 
rather  incline  to  think  that  another  and  larger  work  is  being 
written,  which  will  be  deemed  worthy  of  notice  by  that  organiza- 
tion ;  and  that  very  soon  after  it  is  published,  another  number 
of  Words  for  the  New  Church  will  make  its  appearance. 


WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  125 

Well,  gentlemen  of  the  Academy,  we  give  you  due  notice  that 
while  the  present  writer  lives,  and  the  Lord  gives  him  the  ability 
to  write  and  print,  you  cannot  have  it  all  your  own  way  while  you 
publicly,  in  print,  advocate  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks ;  and 
that  while  Words  for  the  New  Church  may  reach  one  reader,  the 
reply  containing  or  including  the  gist  of  your  arguments,  will  be 
likely  to  reach  more  than  one ;  and  we  will  simply  hint  to  you 
that  if  your  words  are  courteous  and  respectful,  you  will  have  no 
just  cause  to  complain  of  the  writer's  reply. 

Now,  gentle  reader,  the  last  page  or  two  would  never  have 
been  written  by  the  writer,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  ungenerous 
efforts  of  the  Academy  to  impair  the  usefulness  of  his  writings, 
for  he  would  strive  to  avoid  notoriety  rather  than  court  it  in  his 
efforts  to  spread  a  knowledge  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church. 

Who  it  is  that  "opposes  or  ignores  the  teachings  of  the  Writings 
of  Swedenborg,  whenever  they  appear  to  stand  in  the  way  of  his 
arguments,"  the  reader  who  has  carefully  read  our  previous  tract 
on  "Pure  Wine,  Fermented  Wine,  and  other  Alcoholic  Drinks," 
and  who  will  read  what  follows  in  this  work  will  be  able  to  judge. 

To  our  suggestion  in  our  letter  on  "  Lay-preaching  and  Re- 
baptism,"  that  it  would  be  well  if  laymen,  well  read  in  the  doc- 
trines, were  encouraged  to  serve  as  missionaries  in  any  unoc- 
cupied field,  and  to  fill  pulpits  temporarily  vacant,  in  order  to 
accelerate  the  progress  of  the  New  Church,  the  Academy's  serial 
says  : 

"This,  then,  is  the  remedy  offered  by  the  writer  of  this  letter. 
But  it  may  not  be  a  relief  to  those  anxious  ones  to  know  that  the 
Lord  needs  none  of  their  help  ?  This  is  expressly  stated  in  the 
Writings  of  Swedenborg : 

*  All  men  are  evil,  and  of  himself  every  one  would  rush  into  hell;  where- 
fore it  is  a  mercy  that  he  is  delivered  thence ;  nor  is  it  anything  but  mercy, 
inasmuch  as  He  has  NEED  OF  NO  MAN.'"  (A.  C.  587.) 

If  the  above  representation  of  the  Academy  is  correct,  what 
use  is  there  for  the  Academy,  and  the  small  handful  of  anxious 
moving  spirits  thereof,  who  apparently  seem  to  be  willing  to 
assume  the  name  of,  and  to  be  regarded  as,  the  only  priests  of 


126  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE 

the  New  Jerusalem  Church  ?  If  the  Lord  needs  no  man's  help, 
why  do  its  members  not  disband,  and  thus  make  way  for  the 
descent  of  the  New  Jerusalem  ? 

But  the  Academy,  in  the  above  lines,  presents  only  a  one-sided 
view,  and  consequently  a  mistaken  application  of  the  passage. 
The  Lord  needed  a  man  through  whom  to  reveal  to  men  the 
truths  of  the  New  Church,  and  He  found  that  Emanuel  Sweden- 
borg  was  both  fit  and  willing  to  cooperate  with  Him  in  this 
great  work.  The  Lord  desires  the  salvation  of  all  men ;  but, 
having  given  to  man  freedom  and  reason,  He  desires  that 
man  should  cooperate  with  Him  by  striving  to  keep  the  com- 
mandments, and  that  he  should  do  this  as  of  himself;  at 
the  same  time  recognizing  and  acknowledging  that  his  very 
life,  and  all  the  inclination  and  power  he  has  to  do,  comes  to 
him  from  the  Lord  alone.  If  man  does  not  strive  thus  to  act, 
he  cannot  be  saved.  We  have  every  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
Lord  desires  the  promulgation  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New 
Church  to  men,  and  that  as  we  have  freely  received  them  from 
Him,  we  should  freely  give  them  to  others.  There  is,  then,  a 
sense  in  which  He  not  only  needs,  but  commands  our  cooperation 
with  Him  for  our  own  good,  and  the  good  of  our  fellow-men.  It 
is  very  evident  that  the  above  quotation  from  the  "Arcana"  will 
bear  no  such  construction  as  the  Academy  has  given  to  it. 

We  must  say  that  we  are  always  pained  to  hear  New  Church 
clergymen  proclaim  such  sentiments  as  the  above ;  for,  so  far  as 
we  can  judge,  they  seem  to  manifest  a  state  of  mind  too  near  akin 
to  that  which  resulted  in  the  promulgation  of  the  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith  alone,  and  the  claim  for  spiritual  dominion, 
which  were  so  instrumental  in  consummating  the  first  Christian 
Church,  and  which  have  led  to  the  fatalistic  doctrine  which  has 
devastated  even  the  Mohammedan  religion  in  our  day — "God  is 
great,  and  Mohammed  is  His  prophet,"  and  what  need  of  our 
trying  to  do  anything.  Such  views  clearly  belong  to  a  consum- 
mated Church,  and  have  no  place  in  the  New  Jerusalem  Church, 
"the  Crown  of  all  the  Churches,  and  which  is  to  endure  forever." 

But,   so   far  as  lay-lecturing  and   re-baptism   are   concerned, 


WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  127 

what  we  have  said  in  our  tract  has  been  simply  in  the  interest  of 
freedom  in  the  New  Church.  -  Our  views  are  before  the  Church, 
and  we  have  no  desire  for  a  controversy  upon  these  subjects  ; 
but  to  show  in  what  a  different  spirit  another  reviewer  has  noticed 
the  above  "waif,"  and  to  what  a  different  conclusion  he  has 
come,  we  will  quote  an  editorial  notice  from  the  Morning  Light, 
the  English  New  Church  weekly  journal,  of  May  22d,  1880 : 

"  We  have  received  a  copy  of '  A  Letter  to  the  Rev.  George  Field  on  the 
subect  of  Lay-lecturing  and  Re-baptism,'  by  John  Ellis,  M.D.,  in  reply  to 
some  remarks  in  Dr.  Field's  '  Early  history  of  the  New  Church  in  the 
Western  States  and  Canada.'  The  questions  are  temperately  and  ably 
argued,  and  we  think  that  Dr.  Ellis  abundantly  proves  the  impropriety  of 
discouraging  lay-preaching  and  the  requirement  of  re-baptism  as  a  condition 
of  membership." 

The  writer  has,  as  has  been  stated,  no  desire  to  enter  into  a  con- 
troversy with  the  Academy  on  the  subjects  of  lay-lecturing  and 
re-baptism,  especially  of  the  character  initiated  by  the  Academy ; 
but  the  erroneous  and  pernicious  views  set  forth  in  their  serial  upon 
the  wine  question,  must  be  met  and  fully  exposed ;  and,  to  use 
their  own  delicate  language,  it  must  be  clearly  shown  how  they  are 
"groping  in  hopeless  darkness"  upon  this  great  practical  question, 
which  so  intimately  affects  the  welfare  of  the  Church  and  the 
world. 

Before  the  end  of  this  work  is  reached,  the  reader  will  be  able 
to  judge  whose  writings  should  be  excluded  from  the  homes 
where  dwell  those  who  themselves  desire  to  live  the  life  of  the 
Church,  and  to  train  the  young  under  their  charge  into  an  orderly 
and  Christian  life.  It  is  certain  that  either  the  writings  of  the 
Academy,  as  contained  in  their  serial,  Words  for  the  New 
Church,  or  the  writings  of  the  author  of  "  Pure  Wine,  Fermented 
Wine,  and  Other  Alcoholic  Drinks,"  should  be  carefully  excluded 
from  the  home  of  every  parent  who  has  at  heart,  the  best  good 
of  his  children,  and  others  dependent  upon  him,  for  we  read, 
"  evil  communications  corrupt  good  manners."  The  teachings  of 
the  one  or  the  other  are  fearfully  evil  and  pernicious. 

Now,  gentle  reader,  if  you  desire  your  children  to  drink  intoxi- 
cating wine  and  distilled  liquors,  you  have  only  to  admit  to  your 


128  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE 

homes  the  Academy's  serial,  Words  for  the  New  Church — 
what  fearful  words — and  the  following  is  a  sample  of  the  chosen 
words  of  instruction  they  will  mid  therein  : 

"  In  view  of  the  fact  that  many  wine-merchants  and  distillers,  participat- 
ing in  the  greedy  desire  for  gain,  adulterate  their  productions,  it  becomes 
necessary  to  be  careful  in  selecting  liquors  for  consumption,  as  well  as  for 
experimentation. 

"  Much  of  the  whisky  which  is  sold  as  pure,  contains  amylic  alcohol, 
the  fusel  oil,  which  is  acrid,  offensive,  and  highly  injurious  to  the  system. 

"  Of  the  various  articles  now  in  the  market,  we  may  make  a  judicious 
selection,  depending  not  only  upon  our  taste,  but  also  upon  the  respective 
liquors." 

Such  is  the  instruction  given  in  Words  for  the  New  Church ; 
and,  in  accordance  therewith,  if  such  authors  are  permitted  to 
enter  your  homes,  have  we  not  every  reason  to  suppose  will 
be  the  example  set  before  your  children  by  those  whom  they 
will  probably  respect.  How  do  you  like  it,  kind  parent  ?  Aris- 
totle's (the  sage  of  antiquity)  rule  was,  "When  the  danger  is 
all  on  one  side,  abstinence  doing  no  injury,  while  indulgence 
may  injure,  it  is  virtue  to  keep  to  the  extreme  on  the  safe  side ;" 
in  other  words,  to  totally  abstain.  No  one  can  question  but  that 
the  drinking  of  intoxicating  drinks  is  dangerous,  and  that  total  ab- 
stinence is  safe,  during  health  ;  and  that  it  is  a  duty,  has  been,  and 
will  be  again  clearly  shown,  from  the  authority  of  the  Word  of  God, 
the  writings  of  the  Church,  and  the  teachings  of  modern  science. 
We  will  suggest  to  our  friends  of  the  Academy,  that  if  they  will 
even  consult  the  writings  of  that  ancient  philosopher,  Aristotle, 
they  will  perhaps  get  a  glimpse  of  other  virtues  well  worthy  of 
their  consideration,  of  which,  as  in  the  case  before  us,  they  appar- 
ently, at  present,  have  not  the  slightest  perception. 

Speaking  of  the  total  abstinence  movement,  the  Academy  says  : 
"Strange,  indeed,  is  it  that  New  Churchmen  should  be 
beguiled  into  such  movements ;  but  that  they  are  is  evident  from 
the  occasional  display  of  temperance  badges,  and  still  more 
from  the  character  of  contributions  made  to  our  various  periodi- 
cals. Beyond  these,  books  and  pamphlets  occasionally  appear 
from  professed  New  Churchmen  filled  with  the  most  egregious 


WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  129 

falsities  on  the  subject  of  alcoholic  stimulants,  their  Use  and  their 
.  abuse.  Among  these  is  a  pamphlet,  by  John  Ellis,  M.  D.,  entitled, 
'Pure  Wine,  Fermented  Wine,  and  other  Alcoholic  Drinks  in 
the  Light  of  the  New  Dispensation.'  Written  under  such  an 
illumination,  the  reader  would  expect  a  clear  and  complete  expo- 
sition of  the  whole  subject  of  intemperance,  both  as  to  its 
prevention  and  removal.  But  instead,  he  is  introduced  to  parti-- 
san  selections  from  physiological  experiments,  and,  what  is  more 
lamentable,  to  such  perverted  interpretations  of  Swedenborg's 
teachings  that  he  finds  himself  groping  in  hopeless  darkness." 

The  following  is  the  first  illustration  of  the  writer's  so-called 
"perverted  interpretation  of  Swedenborg's  teachings,"  which 
we  will  quote,  and  then  quote  the  passages  from  the  documents ; 
and  then  the  reader  will  be  able  to  judge  who  has  been  guilty  of 
perverting  Swedenborg's  teachings : 

"Beginning  with  the  title-page,"  says  the  Academy's  serial, 
"he  (Dr.  Ellis)  reads  a  selection  from  the  Documents,  which  is  so 
quoted  that  it  holds  Swedenborg  responsible  for  what  he  never 
taught,  and  it  even  makes  him  dispute  the  plain  dicta  of  the 
writings  of  the  Church.  The  passage  referred  to,  when  read  as 
it  is  in  the  Documents,  shows  that  Swedenborg  had  reference  to 
a  people  who  were  dissolute  in  the  extreme.  They  were  con- 
suming the  distillation  of  a  grain  which  was  sadly  needed  as  an 
article  of  food.  Foreseeing  the  ruin  of  his  own  people,  he  urged 
that  the  authorities  forbid,  or  at  least  limit,  the  sale  of  what  was 
indeed,  under  the  circumstances,  'a.  pernicious  drink.'" 

The  following  is  what  was  printed  on  the  title-page  of  our  tract, 
to  which  reference  is  made  above. 

"Total  abstinence  from  an  intoxicating  drink,  more  desirable  for  the 
country's  welfare  and  morality  than  all  the  revenue  to  be  derived  from 
licensing  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  '  so  PERNICIOUS  A  DRINK.' " — Emanuel 
Swedenborg.  (See  page  34.) 

And  the  following  is  what  was  printed  on  page  34  of  our  tract, 
and  the  reader  can  judge  whether  the  above  lines  misrepresent 
Swedenborg's  teachings  or  not,  and  we  do  not  fear  the  judgment. 
It  was  not  intended  as  a  verbatim  quotation,  and  therefore,  with  the 


130  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE 

exception  of  the  last  four  words,  it  was  not  put  in  quotation 
marks,  but  the  reader  was  referred  to  the  page  where  the  ver- 
batim quotations  were  to  be  found. 

TESTIMONY    OF    EMANUEL    SWEDENBORG. 

On  the  fly-leaf  of  one  of  his  theological  MSS.,  he  wrote  :  "  The 
immoderate  use  of  spirituous  liquors  will  be  the  downfall  of  the 
Swedish  people."  In  his  memorial  to  the  Swedish  Diet,  of 
November  lyth,  1760,  three  years  after  the  Last  Judgment, 
Swedenborg  says  :  "  If  the  distilling  of  whisky — provided  the 
public  can  be  prevailed  upon  to  accede  to  the  measure — were 
farmed  out  in  all  judicial  districts,  and  also  in  towns,  to  the 
highest  bidder,  a  considerable  revenue  might  be  obtained  for  the 
country,  and  the  consumption  of  grain  might  also  be  reduced ; 
that  is,  if  the  consumption  of  whisky  cannot  be  done  away  with 
altogether,  which  would  be  more  desirable  for  the  country's 
welfare  and  morality  than  all  the  income  which  could  be  realized 
from  so  pernicious  a  drink}'  ("Documents  concerning  Sweden- 
borg," by  Rev.  R.  L.  Tafel,  vol.  i.  p.  493.)  This  has  clearly  and 
unmistakably  the  total  abstinence  and  prohibition  ring  about  it. 

Now,  kind  reader,  can  you  for  a  single  moment  imagine  that 
Swedenborg  did  not  mean  to  say  what  he  so  clearly  says,  that 
whisky  is  a  pernicious  drink,  and  that  it  would  be  better  if  its  use 
were  done  away  with  altogether  ?  Do  healthy  drinks  impair  the 
morality  of  men  ?  Do  you  think,  as  the  Academy  represents  in 
the  above  quotation  from  its  serial,  that  it  was  not  the  whisky 
which  was  pernicious,  and  which  was  demoralizing  and  destroy- 
ing his  countrymen ;  but  simply  the  consumption  of  grain  for 
making  whisky,  thereby  threatening  a  famine,  and  thus  destroy- 
ing the  Swedish  people  by  starvation  ?  But,  when  the  Academy 
attempts  to  sustain  a  bad  cause  by  the  use  of  falses,  it  is  very 
liable  to  make  contradictory  statements  which  defeat  its  object. 
Turning  to  other  parts  of  the  review,  we  find  it  zealously  advocat- 
ing the  doctrine  that  whisky  and  alcohol  are  good  and  useful 
articles  for  man  to  drink ;  and  it  even  makes  the  following 


WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  131 

statement,  which  seems  to  give  special  delight :  "  Many 
accredited  authors  acknowledge  that  alcohol,  so  far  from  being  a 
poison,  is  food."  Now,  perhaps  the  Academy  will  be  able  to 
tell  us,  if  alcohol  is  food,  how  the  conversion  of  grain  into 
whisky,  which  is  diluted  alcohol,  should  threaten  the  starvation  of 
the  Swedish  people,  as  it  represents?  It  certainly  looks  very 
much  as  though  this  organization  was  "groping  in  hopeless 
darkness"  upon  this  subject,  amid  the  most  destructive  falses. 

We  ask  every  intelligent  and  disinterested  reader,  if  it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  find  in  the  English  language  a  more  gross 
misrepresentation  of  the  views  of  another  than  is  contained  in 
the  above  quotation  from  the  Academy's  organ,  in  regard  to  the 
testimony  of  Swedenborg,  as  contained  in  the  above  quotations 
from  the  Documents,  and  all  in  the  interests  of  whisky  ? 

But  upon  the  subject  of  alcohol,  as  a  poison,  the  Academy  has 
discovered  a  mare's  nest,  with  a  very  large  egg  lying  therein; 
Ay  !  with  the  Irishman  of  the  story,  they  have  seen  a  colt  in  the 
form  of  a  rabbit  skipping  from  behind  a  stump.  We  can  readily 
imagine  how  they  chuckled,  and  how  the  members  said  among 
themselves  :  "  Now,  we  have  caught  Dr.  Ellis,  surely,  once  more, 
in  another  of  his  'lamentable,  perverted  interpretations  of 
Swedenborg's  teachings.'  "  The  following  is  the  Academy's  colt 
from  the  mare's  egg  : 

"  As  an  additional  proof  that  alcohol  is  not  essentially  a  poison,  the 
experiments  of  Dr.  Ford  show  that  it  exists  in  minute  quantities  in  the 
tissues  of  even  the  most  rigid  '  teetotaler.'  It  is  formed  from  hepatic  sugar, 
and  may  be  readily  detected  by  chromic  acid  and  other  chemicals." 

Well,  gentlemen  of  the  Academy,  we  think  if  you  had  con- 
sulted any  work  on  physiology  and  animal  chemistry,  you  would 
not  have  placed  before  your  readers  such  a  stupid  and  simple 
argument  to  prove  that  alcohol  is  not  a  poison,  simply  because  it 
is  found  in  the  tissues  of  a  man  who  never  drinks  it ;  for  you 
would  have  learned  that  carbon,  also,  is  found  in  the  tissues  and 
blood  of  every  one,  as  the  result  of  the  decomposition  of  sub- 
stances which  have  been  taken  as  food  and  drink ;  precisely  as 
alcohol,  when  not  taken  in  food  or  drink,  if  found  in  the  tissues, 


132'  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE 

results  from  the  decomposition  of  substances  which,  having  been 
taken  to  supply  the  legitimate  wants  of  the  body,  and  having  per- 
formed their  use,  are  cast  out  in  a  very  different  form  from  that 
in  which  they  entered  the  mouth.  But  if  the  carbon  is  not  re- 
moved from  the  system,  by  uniting  with  oxygen  to  form  carbonic 
acid  gas  and  by  exhalation,  the  man  dies  within  a  very  few  minutes. 
So  urea  is  found  in  the  tissues,  resulting  from  the  decomposition 
and  decay  of  worn-out  materials  from  the  tissues,  which  are 
thus  removed  to  make  way  for  new  materials  ;  but  if  urea  is  not 
removed  from  the  body  by  the  kidneys  steadily,  the  man  dies 
in  a  very  few  days,  poisoned  by  this  substance.  Now,  does  the 
fact  that  urea  is  found  in  the  tissues  prove  that  it  is  a  suitable 
article  for  food,  or  that  urine,  which  contains  it  in  its  passage 
from  the  body,  is  not  a  poisori  ? — and  that  it  is  every  way  a  suit- 
able and  desirable  drink,  and  should  be  temperately  used  for  this 
purpose?  What  nonsense  to  use  such  arguments  in  favor  of 
whisky-  drinking. 

We  woild  simply  intimate  to  our  friends  of  the  Academy,  that 
silence  upon  this  subject  would  much  better  become  a  Theo- 
logical Academy  than  such  arguments  as  the  one  under  consid- 
eration, for  there  is  no  end  to  the  illustrations  which  clearly 
demonstrate  the  absurdity  and  falsity  of  such  positions.  Even 
the  fecal  matter  from  the  bowels,  excepting  a  portion  of  indigest- 
ible material,  have  dhce  been  in  the  tissues  of  the  body,  and 
come  from  the  decomposition  of  such  tissues,  but  they  have  been 
hurried  out  through  the  blood,  and  separated  in  the  intestines  : 
but  let  a  leak  from  a  water-closet  pipe,  or  the  drainage  from 
a  sewer,  contaminate  the  water  which  men  drink,  and  we  soon 
have  developed  a  malignant  form  of  inflammation  of  the  mucous 
membrane  of  the  digestive  organs  with  malignant  fever  in  some 
of  the  individuals  who  drink  it. 

There  is  another  small  egg,  from  which  the  Academy's  organ 
attempts  to  hatch  another  unanswerable  argument,  to  prove  that 
intoxicating  drinks  are  good  and  useful.  It  is  as  follows  : 

"  Many  accredited  authors  acknowledge  that  alcohol,  so  far  from  being 
a  poison,  is  a  food,  The  organism  may  for  a  variable  period  subsist  exclu- 


WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  133 

sively  upon  even  absolute  alcohol,  one  to  one  and  a  half  ounces,  daily,  and 
actually  gain  in  weight." 

Alcohol,  like  opium,  and  some  other  poisons,  retards  and, 
under  certain  circumstances,  may  temporarily  stop  the  waste,  or 
removal  of  worn-out  substances  through  the  kidneys,  bowels,  lungs 
and  skin,  which  is  so  necessary  for  the  health  of  the  body ;  and 
alcohol,  when  taken  into  the  stomach,  craves  water  and  robs  the 
tissues,  and  may  even  absorb  some  moisture  from  the  atmos^ 
phere,  but  no  intelligent  physiologist,  admitting  all  that  the 
Academy  claims,  would  say  that  such  gaining  in  weight  would  be 
a  healthy  gain.  A  man  would  gain  in  weight  by  eating  putrid  or 
decaying  animal  flesh,  or  rotting  vegetables,  or  rattle-snakes, 
poison  and  all,  but  does  that  make  such  substances  healthy  and 
proper  food  ?  To  the  dog,  decaying  animal  flesh  is  natural  food, 
for  his  organism  is  adapted  to  its  use,  and  he  even  delights  in  the 
odor  arising  therefrom ;  but  it  is  not  grateful  to  the  cat  nor  to 
man,  any  more  than  the  breath  of  the  man  who  drinks  intoxi- 
cating drinks  is  pleasant  to  the  temperate  man.  It  does  seem 
that  the  Academy  must  be  very  hard  pressed  for  legitimate 
arguments  when  it  will  descend  to  such  arguments  as  the  above. 

Alcohol,  we  repeat,  and  at  this  day  it  cannot  be  repeated  too 
often,  is  the  "  prince  of  poisons," — more  to  be  feared  and 
shunned  than  the  poison  which  causes  diphtheria  and  typhoid 
diseases.  Where  is  the  parent  who  cares  for  the  present  and 
future  of  his  children  who  would  not  rather  see  his  son  sick 
with  diphtheria  or  typhoid  fever,  from  contaminated  water,  than 
to  see  him  drunk,  or  suffering  from  delirium  tremens.  There  is 
no  other  poison  on  earth  which,  when  voluntarily  taken,  so  per- 
verts, diseases,  pollutes  and  degrades  a  man  both  physically  and 
spiritually  as  alcohol.  How  can  any  man  encourage  and  justify 
the  use  of  such  a  fluid  ? 

Still  further,  the  Academy  has  discovered  that  a  medical  writer 
has  declared  that  alcohol  is  useful  in  some  cases  of  hemorrhage, 
and  therefore  it  would  apparently  have  the  reader  infer  that  it  is 
a  good  and  useful  beverage  for  the  healthy.  That  alcohol,  like 
other  poisons,  may  sometimes  be  used  advantageously,  as  a 


134  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE 

remedy,  we  do  not  question.  Its  action  is  to  paralyze  the  capil- 
lary vessels,  and  thereby  fill  them  with  blood,  and  in  cases  of 
hemorrhage,  by  thus  temporarily  storing  up  the  blood  in  these 
minute  vessels,  and  preventing  the  heart  from  forcing  it  out  of  the 
body  through  the  ruptured  vessels,  and  by  thus  congesting  the 
minute  vessels  of  the  brain,  it  prevents  fatal  syncope  or  fainting, 
and  when  thus  used  as  a  medicine  it  is  useful. 

So  is  ergot,  or  spurred  rye,  useful  for  restraining  hemorrhages, 
but  its  continued  use  causes  gangrene  of  the  feet,  a  disease  no 
more  peculiarly  the  effects  of  this  poison,  than  drunkenness  is  of 
alcohol.  It  is  strange  that  men  of  intelligence  should  bring  for- 
ward such  an  argument  to  justify  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks, 
and  that  not  a  single  member  of  the  Academy  should  have  called 
attention  to  the  utter  fallacy  of  such  an  argument. 

We  quote  the  following  from  the  Academy's  serial : 

"  In  bold  contrast  with  the  pamphlet  of  Dr.  Ellis,  is  an  article 
which  appeared  in  the  New  Jerusalem  Magazine  for  March, 
1880. 

"Viewing  the  subject  impartially,  and  accepting  the  teachings 
of  the  Church,  without  trying  to  distort  them  to  favor  precon- 
ceived ideas,  the  writer  deduces  a  clear  statement  of  the  true 
uses  of  wines  and  liquors. 

"  As  an  illustration  of  this  antithesis,  we  quote  the  following  : 
1  Wine  was  used  in  the  Holy  Supper,  and  the  Lord  tells  His  disciples  to 
drink  ye  all  of  it;  for,  He  says,  "This  is  my  blood  of  the  New  Covenant 
which  is  shed  for  many."  This  use  of  wine  in  the  Most  Holy  Sacrament  is 
perfectly  conclusive  of  its  having  a  good  signiScation.  If  it  were  not  in 
itself  good,  if  it  were  poisonous  or  injurious  to  the  body  it  could  not  cor- 
respond to  the  Divine  Blood  or  Truth,  nor  would  it  be  used  with  "  bread," 
the  other  nutritious  element.  The  Lord  could  not  have  drunk  wine  if  it 
were  a  bad  thing  in  itself,  or  "pernicious,"  as  Dr.  Ellis  styles  it. '" 

The  second  paragraph  above  contains  a  queer  statement,  to 
say  the  least,  coming  from  the  Academy  as  it  does.  To  repre- 
sent the  writer  as  striving  to  distort  the  teachings  of  the  Church 
to  favor  preconceived  ideas  sounds  strangely ;  whether  this  repre- 
sentation is  just  or  not  the  reader  will  have  a  chance  to  judge  before 
the  writer  gets  through  with  the  Academy.  But  he  will  here  say  : 


WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  135 

the  ideas  of  total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  drinks  did  not 
descend  to  him  from  the  perversions  of  a  fallen  state  of  a  preced- 
ing Church,  neither  did  he  inherit  them  from  his  ancestors ;  they 
were  not  the  views  of  his  childhood  and  early  youth,  but  they 
were  formed  after  deliberately  examining  the  subject  during  his 
adult  life  ;  such  an  examination  having  satisfied  him  that  to  use 
these  drinks  was  to  violate  the  laws  of  his  physical  organization 
and  the  laws  of  God,  which  required  him  to  neither  harm  nor 
kill  himself,  nor  to  risk  his  own  life  needlessly,  nor  injure  his 
fellow-man  by  his  example.  And  beyond  all  this,  these  laws 
required  him  to  deny  whatever  hereditary  inclination  he  might 
have  inherited,  and  whatever  taste  he  might  have  acquired  for 
the  use  of  such  drinks  during  his  early  life ;  and  to  shun  their 
use  as  endangering  his  health  and  natural  life  and  his  eternal 
welfare,  and  from  the  time  of  his  first  acquaintance  with  the 
writings  of  the  New  Church,  to  shun  their  use  as  a  sin  against 
God. 

In  regard  to  the  representation  contained  in  the  second  para- 
graph above,  quoted  from  the  New  Jerusalem  Magazine,  the 
writer  has  never  held  such  views  as  are  there  attributed  to  him. 
Not  one  word  which  he  has  ever  spoken  or  written  would  justify 
such  representations ;  and  in  the  very  tract  which  the  Academy 
is  reviewing  he  says  :  "Natural  wine  corresponds  to  spiritual  wine 
— not  to  truth  alone,  for  wine  signifies  spiritual  love  or  love  to 
the  neighbor  as  well  as  truth.  In  fact,  'The  correspondence  of 
wine  is  one  of  the  very  highest.  It  is  given  as  faith  (A.  C.  1070)  ; 
as  spiritual  good  (A.  C.  2187,  2343,  3513,  3596)  ;  as  love  to  the 
neighbor  (A.  C.  35  70)  ;  and  in  the  supreme  sense  as  Divine 
Truth  out  of  the  Divine  Good  of  the  Lord  (A.  C.  6377).'" 
The  author  would  refer  to  the  following  extract  from  the  same 
tract: 

"  Wine  has  a  similar  signification  to  blood.  Blood  is  composed,  not 
simply  of  water,  which  is  from  the  mineral  kingdom,  and  corresponds  to 
truths  upon  the  natural  plane  of  life,  and  is  the  medium  through  which 
nourishment  is  conveyed  to  every  part  of  the  material  body,  but  it  also 
contains  in  a  state  of  solution,  all  the  substances  required  to  warm  and 
build  up  the  material  body,  which  correspond  to  good,  all  harmoniously 


I36  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE 

blended  in  one  fluid,  a  living  current  which  is  to  the  body  of  man  what 
Divine  Truth,  always  united  with  Divine  Good,  is  to  his  soul.  It  is  per- 
fectly clear  that  wine  has  a  similar  signification,  because  it  has  a  similar 
composition.  It  has  the  water  from  the  mineral  kingdom;  the  sugar,  which 
is  so  delightful  to  the  innocent  child,  arid  which  is  appropriated  to  warm 
the  material  body;  the  gluten  or  bread-part,  which  gives  substance  to  the 
various  tissues;  the  phosphorus  for  the  brain,  the  lime  for  the  bones;  the 
potash  for  the  tendons  and  ligaments;  and  there  is  perhaps  no  part  of  the 
body  which  does  not  receive  some  nourishment  from  pure  unfermented 
wine." 

Do  the  above  passages  look  as  though  Dr.  Ellis  styles  wine  as 
a  bad  thing  in  itself,  or  pernicious?  What  he  did  say,  and 
desires  here  to  repeat,  is  that : 

"  With  most  of  the  nourishing  substances  referred  to  above, 
which  are  contained  in  the  pure  juice  of  the  grape,  and  which 
correspond  to  good,  either  entirely  or  partially  destroyed,  preci- 
pitated, or  converted  into  poisonous  compounds,  even  with  the 
delightful  sugar  perverted  by  leaven  into  alcohol,  which  is  so 
repugnant  to  the  taste  of  the  innocent  child,  what  relation  has 
fermented  wine  to  blood?  Its  correspondence  may  have 
been  appropriate  to  a  state  of  the  Church,  when  faith  was 
separated  from  charity ;  but  how  any  intelligent  New  Churchman 
can  sanction  the  use  of  fermented  wine  is  an  increasing  wonder 
to  the  writer.  It  is  in  vain  to  attempt  to  justify  the  use  of 
fermented  wine,  and  other  alcoholic  drinks,  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  Bible,  the  Writings  of  Swedenborg,  or  from  modern  science, 
until  the  great  doctrine  of  correspondences  between  all  natural 
things,  processes  and  habits,  and  their  spiritual  causes,  is  abso- 
lutely overthrown.  This  correspondence  extends  to  things  even 
the  most  minute." 

The  writer  denies  that  the  good  wine  of  the  Word,  which  is  a 
blessing,  of  which  the  Lord  and  his  disciples  partook,  was  fer- 
mented wine  which  causes  drunkenness  ;  but  claims  that  it  was 
the  fruit  of  the  vine,  either  the  pure,  recently  expressed  juice  of 
the  grape,  or  that  juice  preserved  from  fermentation,  by  one  of 
the  various  processes  well  known  to  the  ancients,  and  carefully 
described  by  the  ancient  writers. 


WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  I  tf 

It  does  seem  so  strange,  that  with  the  tract  lying  before  them 
on  "  Pure  Wine,  Fermented  Wine,  etc,"  Words  for  the  New 
Church  could  have  deliberately  quoted  the  above  paragraph 
from  the  Magazine  /  It  is  but  just  to  say  that  one  of  the  editors 
of  the  Magazine,  seeing  the  injustice  and  wrong  which  was  done 
by  a  similar  misrepresentation  of  the  writer's  views  in  the  Maga- 
zine, has  amply  and  honorably  apologized  for  the  same  in  its 
pages,  so  that  of  the  Magazine  he  makes  -no  complaint. 

"But,"  says  the  Academy,  "there  are  some  statements,  which 

we  think  Mr. would  not  have  made  if  he  had  first 

examined  the  writings.  He  asserts,  for  example,  that  intemper- 
ance in  drinking  is  a  greater  evil  than  intemperance  in  eating. 
Most  evidently  the  abuse  of  good  is  more  damaging  than  the 
abuse  of  truth,  and  so  may  we  not  conclude  that  gluttony,  or 
intemperance  in  eating,  is  more  damaging  and  brutalizing  than 
intemperance  in  drinking." 

Now,  friends  of  the  Academy,  you  have  not  fairly  stated  the 
question  at  issue,  which  is  not "  whether  the  abuse  of  good  is 
more  damaging  than  the  abuse  of  truth,"  but  rather  whether  im- 
bibing falsities  from  evil  is  not  more  damaging  than  the  abuse  of 
good,  for  Swedenborg  compares  intoxicating  drinks  to  falses 
from  evil.  It  is  an  insult  to  your  intelligent  readers,  and  an 
outrage  on  the  common  sense  of  mankind,  to  compare  the  eating 
of  healthy  food,  which  has  a  heavenly  origin,  or  even  its  abuse  or 
intemperate  use,  to  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  philosophy  of  Swedenborg,  originate  from  hell,  and 
which  have  hurt  and  killed  more  of  the  human  family  than  all 
other  poisons  put  together ;  and  which,  in  our  day,  are  hurting 
and  killing  more  men  and  women  than  all  other  poisons,  war, 
pestilence  and  famine,  destructive  wild  animals,  and  serpents 
put  together.  Even  in  the  form  of  fermented  wine,  such  drinks 
are  compared  in  the  Bible  to  the  poison  of  serpents,  and  the 
cruel  venom  of  asps.  Talk  of  the  temperate  use  of  intoxicating 
drinks — even  that  old  "heathen  philosopher,"  Aristotle,  as  we 
have  shown,  teaches  you  a  very  different  lesson  from  this.  You 
might  as  well  talk  of  temperate  stealing,  temperate  bearing  of 


133  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE 

false  witness,  or  of  murdering  temperately,  for  not  more  surely  do 
such  violations  of  the  divine  law  damage  man's  spiritual  nature 
than  the  so-called  temperate  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  impairs 
man's  physical  and  moral  nature. 

But,  after  finding  so  much  in  the  Academy's  Words  for  the 
New  Church  which  is  erroneous,  and  which  we  have  felt  it  our 
duty  to  expose  and  criticise  somewhat  plainly,  we  are  happy  to 
call  the  attention  of  the 'reader  to  a  portion  of  their  review,  which 
teaches  the  truth,  and  clearly  illustrates  the  same  from  the 
Writings  of  Swedenborg.  Although  we  had  exposed  the  error 
in  our  tract,  and  called  special  attention  to  it,  to  which  reference 
is  made,  yet  we  are  very  happy  to  reproduce  the  essential  part  of 
the  testimony  of  the  Academy's  argument  in  reply  to  the  writer 
in  the  New  Jerusalem  Magazine.  For  the  point  is  a  very  essen- 
tial one  in  this  discussion — in  fact,  as  will  hereafter  be  seen,  a 
vital  one. 

Speaking  of  the  errors  into  which  the  writer  in  the  New  Jeru- 
salem Magazine  had  fallen,  the  Academy's  organ  says  : 

"A  more  serious  error  is  the  statement,  that  the  imbibing  of 
more  truths  than  we  are  ready  to  apply  to  the  various  uses  of 
life  makes  us  spiritual  drunkards.  This  view  must  have  crept 
into  the  New  Church  from  the  Old,  for  there  is  nothing  in  the 
Writings  of  Swedenborg  which  sustains  such  an  opinion.  Spiritual 
drunkenness  is  something  quite  different  from  this,  as  we  learn 
from  the  Writings.  We  read  in  the  'Arcana' : 

'  Those  are  called  drunkards,  who  believe  nothing  but  what  they  compre- 
hend, and  therefore  investigate  the  mysteries  of  faith;  in  consequence  of 
which  they  necessarily  fall  into  errors.  *  *  *  The  error  and  insanity 
hence  derived  are  called  in  the  Word  drunkenness ;  and  souls  or  spirits  in 
another  life,  who  argue  about  the  truths  of  faith  and  against  them,  become 
like  drunkards,  conducting  themselves  similarly/  (A.  C.  1072.) 

'  To  be  intoxicated  from  the  cup  is  to  be  insane  from  falses.'  (A.  C. 
5120,  9960.) 

"  So  in  the   'Apocalypse  Revealed' : 

'To  be  made  drunk  with  the  wine  of  whoredom  signifies  to  become 
insane  in  spiritual  things  from  the  falsification  of  the  truths  of  the  Word; 
here  from  the  adulteration  of  them.'  (A.  R.  721 ;  see  also  A.  E.  1035,  376.) 


WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  139 

"But  nowhere  do  we  find  a  statement  that  if  we  imbibe  more 
truths  than  we  are  ready  to  apply  to  the  various  uses  of  life,  we 
are  spiritual '  drunkards.' 

"Surely  he  cannot  be  called  intemperate,  who  stores  his 
memory  with  more  truths  than  he  is  ready  to  apply,  else  all 
school-children  would  be  spiritual  drunkards.  Man  becomes  a 
spiritual  drunkard  only  when,  from  self- intelligence,  he  argues 
about  truths,  and  especially  if  against  them. 

"  The  more  truths  a  man  acquires  the  better,  that  his  rational 
principle  may  thence  be  formed  and  that  these  truths  may  serve 
in  his  memory  as  vessels  to  receive  faith  and  charity. 

"  For  we  read  : 

'That  faith  is  perfected  in  proportion  to  the  number  and  coherence  of 
truths.  Now  since  faith  in  its  essence  is  truth,  it  follows  that  faith  becomes 
more  and  more  perfectly  spiritual  in  proportion  to  the  number  and  coher- 
ence of  truths,  and  consequently  less  and  less  sensual-natural;  for  it  is  thus 
exalted  into  a  higher  region  of  the  mind,  from  whence  it  views  below  it  in 
the  natural  world  numberless  circumstances  and  proofs  that  tend  to  confirm  it. 
True  faith,  by  means  of  such  a  number  of  truths  cohering,  as  in  a  fascicle  or 
bundle,  becomes  also  more  illustrated,  more  perceptible,  more  evident,  and 
more  clear;  it  acquires  also  a  greater  capacity  of  being  conjoined  with  the 
goods  of  charity,  and  hence  of  being  in  a  state  of  greater  alienation  from  evils ; 
and  it  becomes  by  degrees  more  and  more  removed  from  the  allurements  of 
the  eye  and  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  and  consequently  is  rendered  happier  in 
itself:  it  becomes  particularly  more  powerful  against  evils  and  falses,  and 
thence  more  and  more  a  living  and  a  saving  faith.'  "  (T.  C.  R.  352.) 

How  wonderful  that  the  Academy  of  the  New  Church,  with 
all  its  intelligence  and  wisdom,  in  its  zeal  to  expose  the  errors 
into  which  the  writer  in  the  New  Jerusalem  Magazine  had  mani- 
festly fallen,  should  have  been  so  forgetful  of  its  position  as  to 
stultify  its  own  argument,  and  so  completely  overturn  the  plat- 
form upon  which  itself  was  standing,  as  it  does  in  the  above 
quotations  from  its  serial. 

If,  then,  the  imbibing  of  spiritual  truths  never  causes  spiritual 
drunkenness,  as  is  so  clearly  proven,  how  certain  it  is  that  the 
drinking  of  natural  fluids,  which  legitimately  correspond  to  spiritual 
truths,  can  never  cause  natural  drunkenness.  In  other  words,  as 


H0  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE 

fermented  wine  and  whisky  do  cause  natural  drunkenness,  it  is 
perfectly  clear,  and  as  certain  as  correspondences  are  true,  that 
these  fluids  do  not  correspond  to  genuine  spiritual  truths  which 
never  cause  spiritual  drunkenness.  We  think  our  brethren  of 
the  Academy  cannot  fail  to  see  that  they  themselves  are  fairly 
caught,  to  use  their  own  courteous  language,  in  presenting  such 
"perverted  interpretations  of  Swedenborg's  teachings,"  as  show 
that  they  themselves  are  "groping  in  hopeless  darkness." 

Our  friends  of  the  Academy  do  not  seem  to  understand  how 
pure,  unfermented  wine  can  cheer  and  warm  the  heart  of  man, 
nor  how  "  corn  shall  make  the  young  men  cheerful,  and  new  wine 
the  maids"  (Zech.  ix.  7). 

"I  am  sorry,"  says  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Van  Buren,  "to  say  an 
attempt  has  been  made  to  justify  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks 
for  the  purpose  of  exhilaration  by  an  appeal  to  the  Bible.  As 
this  is  the  very  thing  that  leads  to  drunkenness,  and  is  the  begin- 
ning of  it,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  passages  supposed  to  prove  it, 
may  have  another  meaning.  And  so  we  find  it  (Eccl.  ix.  7)  : 
1  Eat  thy  bread  with  joy  and  drink  thy  wine  with  a  merry  heart/ 
The  Hebrew  word  rendered  merry,'  means  ' good?  'upright? 
'  virtuous?  Put  either  of  these  meanings  in  the  place  of  '  merry,' 
and  instead  of  the  idea  of  an  alcoholic  exhilaration,  we  have  a 
sentiment  of  piety  consistent  with  Gospel  temperance." 

In  speaking  of  the  effects  of  alcoholic  preparations,  Words  for 
the  New  Church  says  : 

"  Ideas  flow  more  freely,  the  senses  are  more  acute.  As  the 
•ambrosial  odor  of  wine  greets  the  nostrils,  the  affections  are 
vivified,  and  thus  is  formed  a  social  sphere  which  transforms 
a  listless  company  into  a  chatty,  brilliant,  and  entertaining  party. 
Rudeness  and  incivility  give  place  to  aesthetic  refinement,  and 
charity  finds  one  of  its  most  delightful  recreations." 

Such  words  as  the  above  are  neither  wise  nor  useful,  and  it 
would  seem  to  be  high  time  that  our^ecclesiastical  friends  of  the 
Academy,  should  hear  and  heed  the  warning  voice  of  others. 

A  recent  writer  truly  says  : 

"Making   drunk,  includes    all   the  preparatory   processes   of 


WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  141 

drinking ;  the  sin  does  not  lie  in  the  last  glass.  All  are  united 
in  the  result.  That  which  begins  the  work  and  inflames  the 
appetite  has  the  chief  responsibility." 

Our  brethren  should  remember  that  violence,  manifest  drunk- 
enness, and  woe  lie  but  one  very  short  step  beyond  that  state  of 
excitement  which  they  have  described  above  as  so  desirable. 

" '  It  is  not  for  kings  to  drink  wine,  nor  princes  strong  drink. 
Lest  they  drink  and  forget  the  law  and  pervert  the  judgment  of 
the  afflicted.'  Here  is  abstinence  enjoined,  and  the  reason  for 
it  plainly  given.  Again  (Lev.  x.  8-n),  //  is  required  of  the 
priests:  '  And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Aaron,  saying,  Do  not  drink 
wine  nor  strong  drink,  thou,  nor  thy  sons  with  thee,  when  ye  go 
into  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  lest  ye  die  :  it  shall  be  a 
statute  for  ever  throughout  your  generations.  That  ye  may  put  a 
difference  between  holy  and  unholy,  and  between  unclean  and 
clean.  And  that  ye  may  teach  the  children  of  Israel  all  the 
statutes  which  the  Lord  hath  spoken  unto  them  by  the  hand  of 
Moses.'" 

No  one  questions  but  that  the  wine  referred  to  above  as 
unholy  and  unclean  is  fermented  wine,  and  no  one  supposes  for  a 
moment  that  it  is  unfermented  wine.  "  But  they  also  have  erred 
through  wine,  and  through  strong  drink  are  out  of  the  way ;  the 
priest  and  the  prophet  have  erred  through  strong  drink,  they  are 
swallowed  up  of  wine,  they  are  out  of  the  way  through  strong 
drink,  they  err  in  vision,  they  stumble  in  judgment.  For  all 
tables  are  full  of  vomit  and  filthiness,  so  that  there  is  no  place 
clean"  (Isa.  xxviii.  7,  8). 

How  correctly  and  literally  do  the  above  words  represent  the 
effects  of  drinking  wine  and  strong  drinks,  seen  to-day  as  of  old. 
Oh,  gentlemen  of  the  Academy  !  beware  !  beware  !  "Woe  to 
him  that  giveth  his  neighbor  drink ;  that  puttest  thy  bottle  to 
him"  (Hab.  ii.  5,  15).  You  have  young  and  inexperienced 
men  under  your  charge.  May  the  Lord  protect  them. 

Philo,  a  learned  Jewish  writer  of  Alexandria,  who  lived  during 
the  first  half  of  the  first  century,  is  full  of  important  statements. 


142  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE 

"In  his  treatise  on  'Monarchy'  he  cites,  as  indicating  the  duty 
of  entire  abstinence  from  wine,  the  prohibition  to  the  priests ; 
and  says  it  was  given  for  '  most  important  reasons ;  that  it  pro- 
duces hesitation,  forgetfulness,  drowsiness  and  folly.'  Dwelling 
on  each  of  these  bodily,  mental,  and  religious  evils,  he  says  :  '  In 
abstemious  men  all  the  parts  of  the  body  are  more  elastic,  more 
active  and  pliable,  the  external  senses  are  clearer  and  less 
obscured,  and  the  mind  is  gifted  with  acute  perception.'  Further : 
'The  use  of  wine  *  *  *  leaves  none  of  our  faculties  free 
and  unembarrassed ;  but  is  a  hindrance  to  every  one  of  them, 
so  as  to  impede  the  attaining  of  that  object  for  which  each  was 
fitted  by  nature.  In  sacred  ceremonies  and  holy  rites  this  mis- 
chief is  most  grievous  of  all,  in  proportion  as  it  is  worse  to  sin 
with  respect  to  God  than  respect  to  man.' " — Divine  Law  as  to 
Wines. 

Professor  Tayler  Lewis,  in  a  recent  pamphlet  on  "Wine-drink- 
ing and  the  Scriptures,"  says  : 

"  Our  third  class  of  texts,  the  directly  ethical,  where  wine  and 
its  effects,  instead  of  being  incidentally  mentioned,  form  the 
principal  subject,  are  easily  disposed  of.  They  are  all  one  way. 
Among  others  in  the  Old  Testament  see  Prov.  xxiii.  29-35,  xxxi. 
4;  Isa.  V.IT,  xxviii.  i,  3,  7,  8 ;  Jer.  xxxv.  i,  19;  Dan.  i.  8; 
Hos.  iv.n;  Joel  i.  5  ;  Amos  vi.  6;  Hab.  ii.  5,  15.  They  con- 
demn, with  no  reference  to  'excess  or  moderation.  Wine-drinking 
is  spoken  of  as  a  bad  thing,  leading  to  ruinous  consequences. 

"There  is  one  evil  state  of  the  soul  condemned  throughout  the 
Bible.  It  is  that  state  to  which  we  give  the  name  of  intoxica- 
tion, or  inebriation  ;  but  which,  having  no  term  corresponding  to 
it  in  the  Hebrew,  is  described  and  most  vividly  set  before  us 
(Prov.  xxiii.  29,  35)  in  its  phenomena  and  effects.  It  is  the  act 
of  a  person  in  health,  voluntarily,  and  without  any  other  motive 
or  reason  than  the  pleasurable  stimulus,  using  any  substance 
whatever,  be  it  solid  or  liquid,  to  produce  an  unnatural  change 
in  his  healthy  mental  and  bodily  state,  either  by  way  of  exciting 
or  quieting  the  nerves  and  brain,  or  quickening  the  pulse.  This 
was  wrong — a  spiritual  wrong,  a  sin  per  se — not  a  matter  of 


WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  143 

excess  merely,  but  wrong  and  evil  in  any,  even  the  smallest 
measure  or  degree.  Although  there  might  be  much  ignorance 
in  respect  to  its  real  internal  causation,  the  outward  substances 
known  to  produce  this  effect — above  all,  which  were  used  for  the 
very  purpose  of  producing  it  (for  here  was  the  spiritual  crime)  — 
are  denounced  as  something  which  men  are  not  to  touch,  not 
even  'to  look  at.'  The  description  may  be  scientifically  correct 
or  erroneous ;  it  may  also  be  difficult  to  determine,  precisely, 
what  is  meant  by  certain  Hebrew  phrases  in  this  remarkable  pas- 
sage ;  but  the  general  sense,  as  well  as  the  precise  point  intended, 
is  unmistakably  clear.  It  is  intoxicating  drink  that  is  meant — 
intoxicating  in  any  degree — drinks  sought  for  that  very  purpose 
of  producing  such  unnatural  change  in  the  healthy  human  system. 
There  was  to  be  no  moderate  drinking  (or  desire)  here.  How- 
ever gentle,  exhilarating,  convivial  or  pleasantly  soothing  might 
be  its  first  effects,  at  the  last  '  it  biteth  like  a  serpent,  and  stingeth 
like  an  adder.' 

"According  to  the  ethics  so  noted  for  its  condemnation  of  all 
fanaticism,  we  should  have  expected  from  the  experienced  and 
conservative  Solomon  some  wise  inculcation  of  prudence,  mode- 
ration, avoidance  of  excess,  rational  use  of  the  good  gifts  of  God, 
etc.  Nothing  of  the  kind.  Abstinence,  total  abstinence,  is  the 
lesson,  if  language  can  convey  that  idea.  '  Do  not  look  upon  it,' 
my  son  ;  turn  away  immediately,  as  from  a  venomous  serpent  ; 
think  of  its  biting,  stinging,  maddening  end,  and  let  not  thine 
eye  yield  for  a  moment  to  its  ruby  fascination.  It  was  undoubt- 
edly purer  wine  than  is  now  to  be  found  on  many  Christian 
sideboards ;  but  the  better  it  is,  the  more  sparkling  its  hue,  the 
more  delightful  to  the  palate  as  it  'goes  smoothly  down,'  so  is  it 
all  the  more  dangerous.  The  language  of  the  whole  passage  is 
most  urgent,  reminding  us  of  that  used  (Prov.  iv.  15)  in  respect 
to  other  tempting  sins  that  lead  to  a  dreadful  end :  '  Avoid  it, 
pass  not  by  it,  turn  from  it,  pass  away.'  " 

Now,  gentlemen  of  the  Academy,  we  wish  to  ask  a  few  ques- 
tions, and  are  encouraged  to  do  so  from  the  fact,  that  your  sin- 
cerity in  advocating  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  such  as  fer- 


144  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE 

mented  wine  and  whisky,  as  beverages,  is  not  questioned  by  any 
one  so  far  as  we  know. 

We  would  like  to  know  if  your  practice  is  in  harmony  with  the 
views  proclaimed  in  your  serial  ?  As  priests  or  ministering  ser- 
vants of  the  Lord  in  His  effort  to  save  man  from  all  evil  as  far  as 
possible,  are  you  in  the  habit  of  drinking  these  intoxicating 
drinks  in  your  social  relations  with  each  other  ?  We  are  sorry  to 
say  that  we  are  compelled  to  infer  that  you  are  from  the  language 
which  we  have  quoted  from  your  serial.  Are  v/e  mistaken  ? 

The  prevailing  spirit  of  the  people,  in  your  missionary  fields, 
does  not  sanction  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  beverages  ;  in 
your  missionary  work  do  you  strive  to  counteract  this  spirit? 

To  how  many  young  men  and  young  women  have  you  intro- 
duced the  intoxicating  cup  ? 

Are  you  orally,  as  well  as  by  Words  for  the  New  Church, 
teaching  wives,  mothers  and  daughters  that  it  is  lawful  and  use- 
ful for  their  husbands,  sons,  and  brothers,  to  drink,  as  beverages, 
wine,  whisky,  and  other  intoxicating  drinks  ? 

Do  you  wish  to  withhold  the  young  from  using  these  articles 
as  beverages,  in  places  of  amusement  or  elsewhere  ?  We  can  but 
infer  that  you  do  not. 

When  you  see  young,  middle-aged,  or  old  men,  priests  or 
laymen,  getting  drunk,  have  you,  with  such  teaching  and  exam- 
ple, any  real  ability  to  restrain  them  from  this  "enormous  sin?" 
(See  2422  S.  D.) 

Do  you  really  think  that  parents  who  have  reared  their  chil- 
dren chastely  and  soberly,  if  they  were  to  know  that  your  precepts 
and  example  favored  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  would  be 
willing  to  trust  their  education  in  such  an  institution  as  the 
Academy  ? 

Have  you  considered  carefully  what  effect  your  precepts  and 
example  may  have  on  young  men  committed  to  your  charge  ? 
If  you  have  not,  is  it  not  of  the  divine  mercy  that  the  Academy 
has  but  few  pupils  ? 

Now,  gentlemen,  be  frank  with  the  Church.  Let  us  know  just 
where  you  stand,  practically,  on  the  question  of  intoxicating  drinks. 


WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  145 

If,  after  looking  at  all  sides  of  this  question,  parents  are  still 
willing  to  trust  the  education  of  their  sons  to  your  institution, 
then  the  responsibility  will  be  in  part  with  them,  and  not  alto- 
gether with  you.  If  there  is  any  division  of  sentiment  among 
you  upon  this  great  practical  question  of  life,  will  you  be  so  kind 
as  to  let  the  Church  know  it  ? 

We  give  you,  and  the  young  men  under  your  charge,  and  their 
parents,  due  notice  that  in  the  near  future  no  young  man  who 
drinks  fermented  wine,  beer,  or  whisky,  or  uses  tobacco,  and 
teaches  that  it  is  well  and  right  to  do  so,  and  sets  such  an 
example  before  the  youug,  will  be  tolerated  as  a  settled  minister 
by  the  majority  of  the  lay  members  of  any  society  which  is  able 
to  select  and  support  a  minister.  m 

We -have  made  several  quotations  from  the  writings  of  Dr.  B. 
W.  Richardson,  and  we  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  the  teachers 
and  students  of  the  Academy,  and  others,  to  a  recent  work  of  his, 
entitled  "Temperance  Lesson-Book  on  Alcohol  and  its  Action 
on  the  Body,  designed  for  Reading  in  Schools  and  Families."  It 
should  be  studied  in  every  family  and  school.  The  following  is 
a  summary  of  the  lessons  contained  therein  at  the  end  of  the 
last  chapter,  which  will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  the  import- 
ance of  the  book.  There  is  no  higher  medical  authority  upon  this 
subject  than  Dr.  Richardson,  for  no  one  has  experimented  and 
watched  the  effects  of  alcohol  more  carefully  than  he  has  done  : 

"  Now  that  we  have  learned  so  much  about  alcohol  as  it  ap- 
pears under  the  many  disguises  of  strong  drinks,  we  are,  I  trust, 
armed  by  our  knowledge  against  its  evil  influences.  We  shall, 
however,  still  find  many  to  defend  the  use  of  alcohol,  for  many, 
very  many,  are  still  ignorant  about  it ;  many,  very  many,  are 
strongly  prejudiced  in  favor  of  it ;  many,  very  many,  are  so  fond 
of  it  they  cannot  help  praising  it  as  a  good  thing  for  themselves, 
and  therefore  as  a  good  thing  for  everybody.  Such  is  the  strange 
perversity  of  the  human  mind,  that  numbers  of  people  who  are 
going  wrong,  and  who  know  they  are  going  wrong,  in  the  use  of 
alcohol  will  still  persist  in  their  error,  and  with  their  eyes  open  to 
7 


?4<5  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE 

the  wrong  they  are  doing,  will  persist  in  leading  others  with  them. 
It  is  one  part  of  the  madness  inflicted  by  alcohol  on  its  friends, 
that  deceives  them  and  in  turn  makes  them  deceivers. 

"  You  will  have  often  in  your  lives  to  listen  to  the  arguments  of 
these  persons.  They  will  tell  you  a  great  deal  of  error,  which 
you  must  be  ready  to  hear,  and  at  once  recognize  as  error.  You 
will  be  told  that  alcohol  is  a  food  because  it  warms  the  body. 
You  know  what  that  is  worth.  You  know  that  alcohol  only 
makes  the  body  feel  warm  because  it  causes  more  warm  blood  to 
come  to  the  surface  of  the  body,  there  to  lose  its  heat  and  leave 
the  body  colder.  You  know  that  cold  and  alcohol  exercise  the 
same  kind  of  influence  on  the  body,  and  that  when  working  in 
the  cold,  even  in  the  extremest  cold,  that  man  will  work  longest 
and  best  who  avoids  alcohol  altogether. 

"You  will  be  told  that  alcohol  is  a  food  because  it  gives 
strength  to  the  body  and  helps  men  and  women  to  do  more 
work.  You  know  what  that  is  worth.  You  know  that  the  action 
of  alcohol  is  to  lessen  the  muscular  power ;  that  it  weakens  the 
muscles,  and  that,  carried  a  little  too  far,  it  disables  them  for 
work  altogether,  so  that  they  cannot  support  the  weight  of  the 
body.  You  know  also  from  the  experience  of  men  who  have 
performed  great  feats  of  strength  and  endurance  that  such  men 
have  been  obliged  to  abstain  from  alcohol  completely  in  order  to 
succeed  in  their  efforts,  and  have  beaten  other  men  by  reason  of 
their  careful  abstinence. 

"You  will  be  told  that  alcohol  is  a  food,  because  it  makes  the 
body  fat  and  plump  and  well  nourished.  You  know  what  that  is 
worth.  You  know  that  there  is  nothing  in  alcohol  that  can  make 
any  vital  structure  of  the  body ;  you  know  that  the  best  that  can 
be  said  about  alcohol  in  this  matter  is  that  in  some  forms  in  which 
it  is  taken,  as  beer  for  instance,  it  may,  because  of  the  sugar  in 
such  drink,  add  fat  to  the  body ;  and  you  know  that  this  is  really 
not  a  good  addition,  because  mu^1%.  fat  interferes  with  the  motion 
of  the  vital  organs,  makes  the  dy  heavy  and  unwieldy,  and 
getting  into  the  structure  of  organs,  such  as  the  heart  or  kidneys, 
makes  these  organs  incapable  of  work,  and  so  destroys  life. 


WINE  AND  WHISKY  QUESTION.  147- 

"You  will  be  told  that  alcohol  makes  you  digest  your  food, 
and  helps  people  with  weak  digestion  to  enjoy  their  food  and 
digest  it.  You  know  what  that  is  worth.  You  know  that  every 
other  animal  except  man  can  enjoy  and  digest  food  without 
alcohol,  and  that  men  who  never  touch  alcohol  may  have  excel- 
lent digestive  power.  You  know  also  that  alcohol  impairs 
digestion,  and  that  in  thousands  of  people  it  keeps  up  a  con- 
tinual state  of  indigestion,  and  that  the  indigestion  itself  is  a 
temptation  to  these  to  take  alcohol  to  a  fatal  excess. 

"You  will  be  told  that  if  alcohol  be  not  a  food,  in  the  strict 
sense  of  the  word,  it  is,  notwithstanding,  a  luxury  which  a  man 
cannot  do  without  with  comfort  to  himself;  that  it  cheers  the 
heart,  and  is  necessary  for  mirth  and  pleasure.  You  know  what 
that  is  worth.  You  know  that  young  people,  like  yourselves,  can 
laugh  and  play  and  be  as  happy  as  the  day  is  long  without  ever 
tasting  a  drop  of  alcohol.  You  know  that  hundreds  of  men  and 
women  are  as  happy  as  they  can  be  without  a  drop  of  alcohol, 
and  are  much  freer  from  worry  and  anger  and  care  about  mere 
trifles  than  are  those  who  take  alcohol.  You  know,  moreover, 
that  after  men  or  women  have  been  cheered,  as  they  call  it,  by 
alcohol,  they  suffer  a  corresponding  depression,  and  are  made 
often  so  miserable  that  life  is  a  burden  to  them  until  once  again 
they  have  recourse  to  their  cause  of  short  happiness  and  long 
sorrow. 

"Lastly,  whatever  argument  you  may  hear  in  favor  of  alcohol, 
you  are  now  fully  aware  of  its  fatal  power ;  how  it  kills  men  and 
women  wholesale,  sending  some  to  the  grave  straightway,  and 
some  to  the  grave  through  that  living  grave,  the  asylum  for  the 
insane. 

"This  is  your  knowledge.  I  would  not  advise  you  as  juniors 
to  intrude  it  in  argument  on  your  seniors,  for  that  were  presump- 
tuous. But  treasure  it  in  your  hearts.  Let  it  keep  you  in  the 
path  of  perfect  abstinence  ft"*  >n  alcohol  in  every  disguise,  and 
believe  me,  as  a  man  who  fc\s  seen  much  of  men,  that  your 
example  will  be  all  the  more  effective  with  older  persons  because 
it  is  a  young  example.  Believe,  finally,  that  you  yourselves  will, 


148  THE  ACADEMY  AND  THE  WINE  QUESTION. 

under  the  rule  of  total  abstinence,  grow  up  strengthened  in 
wisdom,  industry,  and  happiness,  and  that  your  success  in  life 
will  reward  you  a  thousand-fold  for  every  sacrifice  of  false  indul- 
gence in  that  great  curse  of  mankind — strong  drink." 

In  the  first  chapter  of  the  work,  the  writer  says  : 

"To  persons  who  have  never  tasted  intoxicating  drinks  many 
of  them  are  nauseous  when  first  tasted.  Even  to  grown-up  men, 
who  have  never  before  taken  these  liquids  into  their  mouths,  the 
first  taste  is  like  that  which  is  felt  on  taking  a  medicine.  The 
taste  is  said  to  be  bitter  in  respect  to  ales,  clammy  and  sickening 
in  respect  to  porter  and  stout,  burning  and  sickening  in  respect 
to  spirits,  and  burning  and  sour,  or  burning  and  sweet,  in  respect 
to  the  wines. 

"  In  all  my  experience  I  never  once  knew  a  person  who  liked 
the  first  taste  of  any  of  the  drinks  we  are  now  thinking  about. 
This  fact  seems  to  me  to  show  clearly  that  it  was  never  intended 
that  human  beings  should  take  these  drinks  regularly.  If  that 
had  been  intended,  the  drinks  would  have  been  made  and  given 
to  us  in  a  form  that  would  have  been  pleasant  to  the  taste,  or  at 
all  events  in  a  form  that  would  not  be  so  unpleasant,  that  the 
instinctive  or  natural  feeling  is  opposed  to  them.  Water  and 
milk  are  natural  drinks.  They  are  neither  bitter  nor  nauseous, 
nor  acid,  nor  burning,  and  therefore  even  the  youngest  infants 
and  children  take  them  without  dislike,  and  look  for  them  with 
quite  a  longing  desire  when  they  want  to  drink. 

"  It  is  a  lesson  early  to  be  remembered,  and  so  I  write  it  down 
early  in  this  book,  that  although  there  are  so  many  drinks  made 
and  sold  as  beers,  wines,  and  spirits,  none  of  them  are  fitted  to 
the  first  natural  wants  and  desires  of  man.  I  gather  from  the 
facts  before  us  that  the  said  drinks  are  therefore  not  wanted  at  all." 

We  hope  the  students  of  the  Academy  and  the  young  men  and 
maidens  of  the  New  Church  will  hear  and  heed  these  important 
words. 


CHAPTER     X. 

THE    COMPARISONS    OF  EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG   AND   THE   ACADEMY'S 
INTERPRETATIONS. 

PROCESSES,  although  very  different  in  their  results,  may  be  com- 
pared, as  the  separation  of  individuals  and  the  organization  of 
societies  in  hell  may  be  compared  with  the  separation  and  organi- 
zation of  societies  in  heaven,  for  in  both  they  are  organized  accord- 
ing to  the  ruling  loves  of  those  who  dwell  therein ;  but  such  a 
comparison  does  not  make  hell  desirable,  nor  the  life  which  leads 
to  hell  a  desirable  one.  Comparisons,  when  made  by  Sweden- 
borg,  may  or  may  not  be  according  to  correspondences  ;  but  the 
spiritual  world,  being  the  world  of  causes,  effects  must  always  of 
necessity  correspond  to  the  causes  which  have  produced  them. 
When  Swedenborg  compares,  as  he  does  in  No.  1035  A.  E., 
"falses  from  evil  to  such  wine  and  strong  drinks  as  induce 
drunkenness ;  wherefore,  also,  that  insanity,  in  the  Word,  is  said 
to  be  effected  by  wine  of  whoredom  and  the  wine  of  Babel,  in 
Jeremiah  li.  7,"  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  and  see  that  this 
comparison  is  written  in  accordance  with  correspondences ;  but 
when  the  Academy,  in  Words  Jor  the  New  Church,  claims  that 
alcohol  is  not  a  poison,  from  the  comparison  which  Swedenborg 
makes  in  C.  L.  145,  "where  it  is  written  that  spiritual  purification 
may  be  compared  with  the  purification  of  natural  spirits  which  is 
done  by  chemists,  and  is  called  defecation,  rectification,  castiga- 
tion,  cohobation,  acution,  decantation  and  sublimation ;  and 
wisdom  purified  may  be  compared  with  alcohol  which  is  spirit 
most  highly  rectified  ; "  it  is  not  easy  to  see  the  correspondence  ; 
and  when  from  this  comparison  they  attempt  to  justify  the  use  of 
intoxicating  drinks,  and  even  whisky,  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  how 
far  they  have  wandered  from  the  truth.  The  great  object  of  the 
above  processes  for  purifying  spirits,  is  especially  to  remove  all 

(149) 


150  COMPARISONS  OF  SWEDENBORG  AND 

the  water  and  other  substances  which  these  fluids  ordinarily 
contain.  Take  the  fermented  wine,  for  instance,  from  which  this 
pure  alcohol  can  be  made  by  the  processes  named  by  Sweden- 
borg  in  this  comparison,  everything,  including  the  water  as  far  as 
possible,  is  carefully  removed,  leaving  pure  spirits  or  alcohol.  This 
pure  spirit,  we  know  by  its  effects,  corresponds  to  falses  from 
evil,  and  is  to  the  human  body  a  caustic  fluid,  and  no  one  but 
the  hardest  "  old  toper,"  the  mucous  membrane  of  whose  mouth 
and  stomach  has  been  indurated  by  a  long  course  of  drunkenness, 
would  ever  attempt  to  drink  it.  This  pure  spirit,  when  drank  in 
a  given  quantity,  causes  drunkenness,  and  even  death,  more 
speedily  than  any  other  intoxicating  drink ;  and  yet  the  Academy 
would  have  us  understand,  that  this  purified  alcohol,  which 
never  has  been  used,  and  which  cannot  be  used  by  any  sober, 
sane  man,  as  a  drink,  corresponds  to  wisdom  purified,  and  is 
every  way  a  suitable  drink  for  man.  Try  it  on  a  child  !  We  ask 
every  intelligent  reader,  if  wisdom  purified,  in  its  action  upon  the 
spirit  of  man,  bears  any  resemblance  to  the  action  of  this  pure 
spirit  upon  his  body  and  mind  ?  The  Academy  does  not  seem 
able  to  see  that  Swedenborg  is  here  simply  comparing  a  spiritual 
and  a  natural  process  of  purification,  and  the  purity  of  wisdom 
with  the  purity  of  alcohol  thus  produced,  and  that  his  compari- 
son in  no  way  destroys  the  poisonous  quality  of  the  alcohol,  or 
renders  it  a  suitable  article  for  drinking,  as  all  experience  shows. 
As  upon  the  above  comparison,  and  another  by  Swedenborg, 
the  Academy  has  based  almost,  if  not  quite  all,  of  its  arguments 
in  favor  of  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  we  will  quote  the  latter 
in  full,  and  call  the  special  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  incon~ 
sistency  of  the  construction  which  they  put  upon  it : 

"  'A  man's  understanding  is  receptive  of  good  as  well  as  of  evil, 
and  of  truth  as  well  as  of  falsity,  but  not  his  will,  which  must  be 
either  in  evil  or  in  good  ;  it  cannot  be  in  both,  for  the  will  is  the 
man  himself,  and  therein  is  his  life's  love.  But  good  and  evil  in 
the  understanding  are  separated,  like  internal  and  external ; 
hence  a  man  may  be  interiorly  in  evil,  and  exteriorly  in  good. 


INTERPRETATIONS  BY  THE  ACADEMY.  151 

Still,  however,  when  a  man  is  reformed,  good  and  evil  enter  into 
combat,  and  there  then  exists  a  conflict  or  battle,  which,  if 
grievous,  is  called  temptation  ;  but  if  not,  is  like  the  fermentation 
of  wine  or  wort.  In  such  a  case,  if  good  overcomes,  evil  with  its 
falsities  is  removed  to  the  sides,  as  the  lees  fall  to  the  bottom  of 
a  vessel ;  and  good  becomes  like  generous  wine  after  fermenta- 
tion, or  clear  liquor  ;  but  if  evil  overcomes,  good  with  its  truth  is 
removed  to  the  sides,  and  it  becomes  turbid  and  foul  like  unfer- 
mented  wine  or  unfermented  liquor.  This  comparison  of  fer- 
mentation is  used  because  leaven  in  the  Word  signifies  the 
falsity  of  evil,  as  in  Hosea  vii.  4 ;  Luke  xii.  i  :  and  in  other 
places.'  (D.  P.  284.) 

"  In  this  beautiful  extract,  evil  with  its  falsities  is  compared  with 
leaven  and  with  the  lees ;  and  good  is  compared  with  generous 
wine.  One  would  naturally  infer  that  these  respective  compari- 
sons indicate  resemblances  between  the  objects  compared ;  and 
hence  that  good  and  wine  were  both  genuine.  And  this  conclu- 
sion would  seem  to  be  the  more  evident  from  the  adjective  which 
Swedenborg  uses ;  for  generous,  when  applied  to  wine,  means 
noble,  vigorous,  pure,  good." 

For  a  correct  understanding  of  the  above  comparison,  various 
points  must  be  borne  in  mind. 

First :  That  the  word  generous,  as  here  used,  does  not  neces- 
sarily mean  good,  but  it  undoubtedly  means  vigorous  or  strong  in 
this  instance.  In  this  sense,  the  term  is  used  by  medical  writers 
at  this  day. 

Second  :  In  the  process  of  fermentation,  the  gluten  contained 
in  the  wine  as  it  is  pressed  from  the  grape,  and  which  nourishes 
the  body  of  man  as  good  does  his  soul,  which  is,  in  fact,  similar 
to  the  gluten  in  bread,  is  actually  overcome  and  destroyed  to  the 
extent  fermentation  progresses  by  the  leaven,  and  the  sugar 
which,  we  are  told  by  Swedenborg,  corresponds  to  spiritual 
delights,  is  often  entirely  destroyed,  and  even  the  vegetable  salts 
so  useful  to  man,  are,  to  a  great  extent,  changed  or  precipitated. 
so  that  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  the  changes  which  take  place  during 


152  COMPARISONS  OF  SWEDENBORG  AND 

fermentation  do  not  in  the  slightest  degree  correspond  with  the 
spiritual  changes  which  take  place  in  man 's  regeneration. 

Then,  by  what  authority  does  the  Academy's  organ  say  that  in 
the  above  extract,  evil  with  its  falsities  is  compared  with  leaven 
and  lees.  It  will  be  seen  that  this  representation  is  not  correct ; 
for  it  is  the  combat  and  separation  and  falling  to  the  bottom  which 
is  compared,  and  not  the  leaven  and  lees.  Lees  have  a  good  sig- 
nification when  this  word  is  used  in  a  good  sense,  as  in  Isaiah  xxv.  6. 
Speaking  of  the  "  feast  of  fat  things,  and  wine  on  the  lees,  wine 
on  the  lees  well  refined":  "By  the  feast  of  fat  things,  of  fat 
things  full  of  marrow,"  says  Swedenborg,  "is  signified  good,  both 
natural  and  spiritual,  with  joy  of  heart ;  and  by  the  lees,  and 
lees  refined,  are  signified  truths  from  that  good  with  the  felicity 
thence  derived."  (A.  E.  1159.)  "A  feast  of  fat  things  signi- 
fies the  appropriation  and  communication  of  good,  and  by  a  feast 
of  lees,  or  the  best  wine,  the  appropriation  of  truth"  (A.  E.  252), 
called  a  "feast  of  lees"  (A.  C.  5943.)  Such  is  the  signification  of 
lees  when  they  result  simply  from  the  settling,  after  straining  or  fil- 
tering— refining — of  the  heavier  portions  of  the  grape  juice  or  new 
wine.  But  it  is  perfectly  evident  that  the  lees  which  fall  to  the  bot- 
tom during  the  fermentation  of  wine  can  have  no  such  signification, 
so  that  the  Academy,  after  all,  is  not  so  far  from  the  truth,  when 
it  claims  that  lees  are  compared  by  Swedenborg  to  falsities,  and, 
consequently,  according  to  their  philosophy,  correspond  to  falsities. 
Swedenborg,  it  will  be  seen,  as  if  afraid  his  readers  might  mistake 
the  true  meaning  of .  the  above  comparison,  says :  "This  com- 
parison of  fermentation  is  used  because  leaven  in  the  Word 
signifies  the  falsity  of  evil."  If  the  lees,  which  fall  to  the 
bottom  from  the  action  of  leaven  on  wine,  instead  of  having  a 
good  signification  as  they  do  when  they  are  used  in  a  good  sense 
in  the  Word,  have  a  bad  signification,  how  can  the  wine  from 
which  such  lees  have  been  separated  fail  to  have  an  evil  signifi- 
cation? Unfermented  wine,  at  the  commencement  of  ferment- 
ation, in  which  state  it  is  generally  seen  at  this  day  when  no 
effort  is  made  to  prevent  fermentation,  is  turbid  and  foul  from 
the  commencing  action  of  leaven,  and  in  this  state  it  is  unwhole- 


INTERPRETATIONS  BY  THE  ACADEMY.  153 

some  to  the  stomach ;  and  Swedenborg  explains  fully  what  he 
means  when  he  says  that  "good  becomes  like  generous  C  or  strong) 
wine  after  fermentation,"  by  what  he  adds — "or  clear  liquor." 

It  seems  so  strange  that  men,  as  well  read  in  the  writings  of 
the  Church  as  the  members  of  the  Academy  are  supposed  to  be, 
should  make  such  a  serious  and  grave  mistake,  as  to  attempt  to 
justify  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  from  such  comparisons  as  ^ 
the  above  found  in  the  Writings  of  Swedenborg ;  when  the  very 
comparisons  which  they  select,  teach  a  very  different  doctrine, 
which  is,  as  we  have  seen  sustained  by  reason,  facts,  and  science  ; 
the  pure  spirit  or  alcohol  of  the  one  comparison  being  so  ob- 
noxious and  irritating  that  no  one  but  a  drunkard  would  ever 
think  of  drinking  it,  and  even  the  lees  of  the  other  comparison, 
admitted  by  the  Academy  to  correspond  to  falsities.  Is  it  strange 
that  Swedenborg  should  inform  us,  as  he  does  in  the  passage 
already  quoted,  that  the  resulting  wine  may  be  compared  to 
falses  from  evil? — please  remember  it  is  not  the  process  which  he 
here  compares,  but  the  wine  itself.  How  are  we  to  account  for 
this  strange  state  of  darkness  in  which  the  "Academy  of  the  New 
Church"  so  manifestly  dwells  upon  this  most  vital  question,  so 
intimately  affecting  the  welfare  of  the  New  Church  and  the  world  ? 
In  reply  to  this  question,  we  will  first  state  that,  according  to  the 
Writings  of  Swedenborg,  the  first  Christian  Church  came  to  its  end 
over  a  century  ago,  through  evils  of  life  and  .the  falsifications  of  the 
doctrines  taught  by  the  Lord  when  on  earth,  and  by  His  disciples 
soon  after  His  ascension.  Even  the  ordinances  of  the  Church  be- 
came perverted,  until  a  wine  which  was  prohibited  to  the  Jews,  and 
which  was  providentially  prohibited,  owing  to  its  known  poisonous 
qualities,  by  Mohammed  to  his  followers,  and  which  was  regarded 
as  so  polluted,  that  even  the  ancient  heathen  would  not  dare  to 
offer  it  to  their  gods,  was  substituted  for  the  passover  cup,  or  the 
fruit  of  the  vine,  or  unfermented  wine,  of  which  our  Lord  and 
His  disciples  partook  at  the  last  supper.  And  this  sad  perversion 
seems  to  have  descended  to  the  New  Church  Academy  unques- 
tioned, and  they  seem  to  have  been  strongly  confirmed  in  such 
false  views,  even  to  the  extent  of  justifying  the  use  of  intoxicating 


1.54  COMPARISONS  OF  SWEDENBORG  AND 

drinks  as  beverages,  from  which  we  may  as  rightfully  select  and 
use  as  we  may  from  beneficial  articles  of  food  or  drink. 

Swedenborg  says  :  "  Those  who  are  in  falses,  and  especially 
those  who  are  in  evils,  are  said  to  be  bound  and  in  prison ;  not 
that  they  are  in  any  bonds,  but  because  they  are  not  in  freedom  ; 
those  who  are  not  in  freedom  being  interiorly  bound ;  for  those 
who  have  confirmed  themselves  in  what  is  false  are  no  longer  in 
freedom  of  choosing  and  accepting  the  truth,  and  those  who  have 
much  confirmed  themselves  therein  are  not  in  freedom  to  see  it, 
still  less  to  acknowledge  and  believe  it,  for  they  are  in  the  per- 
suasion that  what  is  false  is  true,  and  what  is  true  is  false ;  so 
powerful  is  this  persuasion,  that  it  takes  away  all  freedom  of 
thinking  anything  else,  consequently  it  holds  the  thought  itself 
in  bonds  and  as  it  were  in  a  prison.  This  I  had  much  opportunity 
of  being  convinced  of,  experimentally,  from  those  in  the  other 
life  who  have  been  in  a  persuasion  of  the  false  by  confirmations 
in  themselves ;  they  do  not  at  all  admit  truths,  but  reflect  or 
strike  them  back  again,  and  this  with  an  obstinacy  proportion- 
ate to  the  degree  of  persuasion ;  especially  when  the  false  is 
grounded  in  evil,  or  when  evil  has  persuaded  them."  (A.  C. 
5096.) 

From  the  above  we  can  see  how  difficult  it  is  for  men  who  are 
confirmed  in  falses  to  see  the  truth,  and  especially  for  those  who 
are  in  evils  to  seethe  truth  which  condemns  those  evils.  Men 
did  not  often  see  that  slavery  was  wrong  while  they  held  slaves, 
and  this  fearful  wrong  was  justified  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
Bible  by  many  clergymen,  and,  if  we  mistake  not,  by  some  clergy- 
men of  the  New  Church ;  but  now,  that,  in  the  providence  of 
the  Lord,  slavery  has  been  overthrown,  few,  if  any,  fail  to  see  that 
slavery  was  wrong.  It  is  equally,  if  not  even  more,  difficult,  to 
see  that  evil  habits  of  life  are  evil,  so  long  as  we  continue  to 
indulge  in  them.  The  woman  who  compresses  her  waist  does  not 
see  that  tight- dressing  harms  her,  and  is  consequently  an  evil,  so 
long  as  she  continues  this  pernicious  habit,  which  does  so  much  to 
ruin  the  health  of  women,  impair  the  vitality  of  our  race,  and 
shorten  human  life.  She  actually  feels  that  tight-dressing  does  her 


INTERPRETATIONS  BY  THE  ACADEMY.  155 

good  every  time  she  indulges  in  it — without  it  she  feels  all  gone, 
precisely  as  the  rum-drinker  does  who  has  not  had  his  morning 
dram.  The  man  who  habitually  uses  that  disgusting  and  deadly 
poison,  tobacco,  does  not  feel  that  it  injures  him,  and  that  it  is 
wrong  to  use  it :  how  can  he  ?  He  "  hankers  "  after  it,  and  suffers 
when  he  attempts  to  leave  it  off;  and  the  resumption  of  its  use 
relieves  him,  cheers  him,  and  makes  him  feel  good.  The  same 
is  true  with  the  habitual  indulger  in  opium,  and,  in  fact,  with  the 
consumer  of  every  other  poison,  when  habitually  used.  This  is 
especially  true,  as  we  all  know,  and  have  seen,  with  the  drinkers 
of  that  fearfully  destructive  and  deadly  poison,  alcohol,  in  what- 
ever form  it  may  be  taken.  Therefore,  as  a  rule,  and  according  to 
Swedenborg's  teaching,  we  cannot  expect  men  who  habitually 
indulge  in  the  evil  habit  of  using  intoxicating  wine  and  whisky, 
however  "judiciously"  they  may  select  their  liquors,  to  see  that 
it  is  wrong  to  use  them.  It  will  be  seen  that  it  would  be  asking 
too  much  of  poor  human  nature  to  expect  them  to  see  the  fearful 
nature  of  this  evil,  as  those  who  are  free  from  such  habits  clearly 
see  it.  Nor  need  the  teetotaller  be  discouraged  even  though 
the  leading  spirits  of  the  Academy  do  not  join  our  ranks,  although 
we  have  hope  even  for  them  still,  and  charity,  too.  But  for  the 
young,  who  have  not  confirmed  themselves  in  favor  of  drinking 
intoxicating  drinks,  and  who  are  free  from  the  evil  of  drinking, 
we  may  labor  earnestly,  faithfully,  and  hopefully,  and  the  Lord 
will  assuredly  bless  our  efforts.  If  men,  with  the  clear  light  of 
the  New  Jerusalem  Church  shining  into  their  understandings, 
continue  to  drink  intoxicating  drinks,  if  these  escape  drunkenness 
it  will  be  as  by  the  "  skin  of  their  teeth."  We  know  very  well  that 
they  cannot  fail  to  be  singed  by  this  "liquid  fire,"  which  we  have 
seen  has  its  origin  from  hell.  May  the  Lord  protect  our  brethren 
of  the  Academy ;  but  we  think  He  will  require  a  little  of  their  help 
— cooperation — before  He  can  do  this,  without  interfering  with 
their  freedom,  and  that  He  never  does. 

Now,  gentlemen  of  the  Academy,  you  may  as  well  give 
up  your  attempt  to  justify  the  use  of  fermented  wines,  pro- 
duced by  the  action  of  leaven  on  the  pure  juice  of  the  grape, 


156  COMPARISONS  OF  SWEDENBORG  AND 

and  of  whisky.  It  is  impossible  for  you  to  sustain  your  views 
by  any  legitimate  argument,  for  the  truth  is  not  on  your  side. 
We  have  seen  into  what  contradictions  and  absurdities  you 
rush  the  moment  you  make  the  attempt.  The  Word  of  the 
Lord,  sustained  and  illustrated  by  the  testimony  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  ancient  writers,  who  wrote  during  the  prophetical  and 
apostolic  ages,  shows  conclusively  that  there  were  two  kinds  of 
wine,  one  good  and  the  other  bad,  in  regular  use. 

President  Nott  says  :  "That  the  wine  declared  by  the  master  of 
the  feast  to  be  '  good  wine/  was  good  wine — in  the  sense  that 
Pliny,  Columella,  or  Theophrastus  would  have  used  the  term 
'good,'  when  applied  to  wine  ;  good,  because  nutritious  and  un- 
intoxicating ;  and  of  which  the  guests  even  at  such  an  hour 
might  drink  freely  and  without  apprehension,  because  it  was 
wine  which,  though  it  would  refresh  and  cheer,  it  would  not 
intoxicate." 

."  Is  it  reasonable,"  says  a  recent  writer,  "  that  the  inspired 
penman  employs  the  same  kind  of  wine  both  as  a  symbol  of 
ivrath  and  mercy  ?  Is  there  anything  else  of  which  this  is  true  ? 
'Dread'  is  u^ed  as  a  symbol  of  mercy,  and  so  is  'milk'  and  'oil.' 
Are  they  ever  employed  as  symbols  of  wrath  ?  Never.  Neither 
is  the  unfermented  fruit  of  the  vine  used  as  a  symbol  of  wrath. 
It  is  the  changed,  innutritions,  alcoholic,  dangerous  wine  that  is 
an  appropriate  symbol  of  divine  wrath.  This  view  alone  renders 
the  Bible  consistent,  and  in  harmony  with  science  and  experi- 
ence." 

Dr.  Lees  says:  "That  somebody  consumed  these  innocent, 
vinous  preparations  is  certain.  Is  it  probable  that  the  prophets 
and  saints  were  the  sole  persons  who  refused  to  do  so  ?  Is  it 
likely  that  while  moral  pagans  preferred  good  wines,  the  prophets 
and  religious  Jews  invariably  selected  the  drugged  and  intoxicat- 
ing? But  the  associated  element  of  Daniel's  abstinence  will 
refute  the  whole  principle  of  the  argument." 

As  New  Churchmen  what  can  you,  gentlemen  of  the  Academy, 
do  toward  sustaining  your  views,  with  the  philosophy  of  the 
Church,  the  science  of  correspondences,  and  the  testimony  of 


INTERPRETATIONS  BY  THE  ACADEMY.  157 

Swedenborg  so  clearly  against  you  ?  We  are  told  by  Sweden  - 
borg  that  all  substances  which  hurt  and  kill  men  originate,  not 
from  the  Lord,  but  from  hell.  Above  all  other  substances,  we 
know  that  fermented  and  alcoholic  drinks  do  this. 

A  curious  fact,  it  is  said,  has  been  *noted  by  Professor  Van 
Tieghem.  The  cells  in  the  root  of  an  apple-tree  underwent  alco- 
holic fermentation  when  the  soil  was  very  damp,  but  he  tells  us 
it  made  even  the  tree  look  sick.  While  the  effects  of  alcohol  on 
the  body  and  mind  are  strictly  analogous,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
the  effects  of  falses  from  evil  on  the  soul,  in  every  respect,  and 
with  Swedenborg's  comparison  of  such  wine  and  strong  drinks  as 
cause  drunkenness,  not  only  to  falses,  but  to  the  worst  kind  of 
falses — to  falses  from  evil — with  his  express  declaration  that  whisky 
was  so  pernicious  a  drink,  and  that  the  immoderate  use  of  spiritous 
liquors  would  be  the  downfall  of  the  Swedish  people,  and 
with  the  testimony  of  the  ablest  medical  writers  of  all  ages  against 
you,  how  can  you  expect  to  sustain  your  views?  The  great 
trouble  .with  you  is  that  you  are  not  masters  of  this  subject.  It 
is  perfectly  clear  that,  holding  on  to  the  drinking  usages,  cus- 
toms, and  traditions  of  the  fallen  state  of  the  first  Christian 
Church,  you  had  not  carefully  examined  this  subject  in  the 
light  of  this  new  day,  before  attempting  to  stay  the  progress 
of  the  most  needed  and  the  greatest  reform  movement  of  the  age. 
But  truth  is  mighty  and  will  prevail,  and  you  will  have  to  with- 
draw from  your  dogmatic  assumptions  upon  this  subject  or  you 
will  cease  to  have  a  following.  The  Church  of  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem is  not  to  be  a  whisky-drinking,  wine-bibbing,  and  beer- 
guzzling  Church.  Whisky,  fermented  wine,  and  beer  perform  no 
use  in  the  healthy  human  body  which  cannot  be  much  better  per- 
formed by  legitimate  food  and  drink;  and  all  true  philosophy 
teaches  us  that  use,  and  not  our  perverted  appetites,  should 
govern  our  eating  and  drinking  that  we  may  have  a  healthy  mind 
in  a  healthy  body.  The  Lord  has  so  ordered  that  the  man  who 
lives  on  the  plainest  and  most  healthy  food  actually  enjoys  the  most 
in  eating  and  drinking  ;  for  stimulating  and  poisonous  articles  soon 
blunt  the  taste  for  healthy  food,  and  do  not  themselves  satisfy. 


158  COMPARISONS  OF  SWEDENBORG. 

We  will  simply  intimate  to  you,  gentlemen  of  the  Academy,  that 
there  is  a  slight  difference  between  the  excitement  and  delight 
which  follow  the  use  of  healthy  articles  of  food  and  drink,  and 
the  excitement  and  dejjght  which  follow  the  use  of  intoxicating 
drinks,  and  that  difference  is  to  the  body  and  mind  what  the 
difference  between  heaven  and  hell  is  to  the  soul.  The  delights 
which  flow  from  the  use  of  the  former  are  natural  and  orderly, 
and  correspond  to  heavenly  delights  ;  whereas,  we  know  very 
well,  by  every  day's  observation,  that  the  delights  which  flow 
from  the  latter  are  unnatural  and  disorderly,  and  correspond  to 
infernal  delights. 

"As  to  whisky,"  said  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Guthrie,  of 
Edinburgh,  "  whisky  is  good  in  its  own  place.  There  is  nothing 
like  whisky  in  this  world  for  preserving  a  man  when  he  is  dead. 
But  it  is  one  of  the  worst  things  in  this  world  for  preserving  a 
man  when  he  is  living.  If  you  want  to  keep  a  dead  man,  put 
him  into  whisky.  If  you  want  to  kill  a  living  man,  put  the  whisky 
into  him." 


DUTY   TO   THE   RECLAIMED. 

Wine  :  Ecclesiastical. — Dr.  Kerr,  of  England,  in  a  recent  lecture,  said  he 
stood  on  sure  ground,  for  he  was  on  his  own  domain  of  medicine.  As  a 
physician  of  some  experience  in  the  treatment  cf  habitual  drunkenness,  he 
knew  that  it  was  not  safe  for  the  dipsomaniac  to  taste  intoxicating  drink  in 
any  circumstances,  while  in  a  state  of  consciousness;  and,  therefore,  he  (the 
lecturer),  Churchman  though  he  was,  even  when  a  drinker  himself,  never 
allowed  a  reformed  drunkard  under  his  care  to  go  near  a  communion  table 
where  intoxicating  drink  was  presented.  He  was  supported  in  this  line  of 
treatment  by  Dr.  A.  Fergus,  of  the  General  Medical  Council,  and  recently 
President  of  the  Faculty  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  by  Surgeon-General 
Francis,  and  by  other  experts  in  the  higher  ranks  of  the  medical  profession. 
A  typical  instance  of  the  relapse  of  a  reformed  inebriate  through  fermented 
wine  at  the  Sacrement  was  adduced,  the  authority  for  the  facts  being  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

The  lecturer  also  said  he  would  be  disloyal  to  truth  if  he  did  not  honestly 
testify  to  the  serious  risk  of  communion  in  an  intoxicant  to  the  reformed  ine- 
briate, and  to  the  yet  unfallen  subject  of  the  hereditary  drink  crave.  At 
present  what  was  the  fact?  Some  reformed  drunkards  had  been  expelled 
from  the  Church  altogether ;  some  had  deprived  themselves  of  the  privilege  of 
communion,  and  some,  while  worshipping  regularly  at  an  Established  Church, 
communicated  at  some  Nonconformist  place  of  worship  where  unfermented 
wine  was  used.  He  implored  the  clergy,  as  a  mere  matter  of  justice  and  of 
right,  to  render  the  most  sacred  rite  of  their  venerable  Church  safe  for  the 
weakest  of  the  victims  snatched  from  the  fatal  embrace  of  drink. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

A   NEW   VIEW. 

The  writer  has  just  received  the  following  communication  on 
the  wine  question,  from  a  highly  esteemed  correspondent,  and 
cheerfully  places  it  before  his  readers  : 

"Leaven  corresponds  to  and  represents  the  false  of  evil. 
Spiritual  leaven  did  not  exist  in  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  but 
was  introduced  when  that  Church  fell  into  evils  of  life,  and 
framed  doctrines  by  which  it  could  justify  its  bad  conduct. 

"This  leaven  has  'been  transmitted  from  parents  to  children 
through  a  long  series,'  until  the  disposition  to  love  the  '  false  of 
evil'  has  become  the  ruling  power  of  man's  nature. 

"  The  Lord,  in  order  to  provide  against  the  total  destruction  of 
the  human  race,  through  leaven,  separated  the  will  from  the 
understanding,  and  put  into  the  understanding  a  new  will,  which 
is  called  'the  will  of  truth.' 

"Into  this  new  will  may  be  introduced  divine  doctrine  and 
divine  life,  which,  when  introduced,  form  a  heavenly  city  in  an 
enemy's  country.  This  city  is  life  introduced  into  man,  and 
leaven  is  death  from  hell.  The  enemies  are  represented  by 
leaven,  the  ferment  from  which  is  the  beginning  of  a  deadly 
strife.  It  is  a  struggle  between  life  and  death.  The  Lord  sus- 
tains and  defends  the  life.  For  this  kind  of  temptation  is  not ' 
admitted  into,  man  until  '  truths  in  his  understanding  are  gathered 
into  bundles,'  and  arranged  into  order  for  defence.  Then  come 
the  struggle  and  the  victory.  But  victory  does  not  restore  man 
to  the  condition  of  the  men  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church.  This  is 
seen  in  the  fact  that  the  heavens  formed  from  the  Most  Ancient 
Church  are  the  inmost  heaven ;  and  that  the  heavens  formed 
since  are  more  and  more  external  and  less  and  less  pure.  There- 

(159) 


160  A  NEW  VIEW. 

fore,  it  cannot  be  said  that  one  who  has  so  far  fallen  from  God  as 
to  love  the  false  of  evil  better  than  the  truth  of  good,  can  be 
restored  by  any  process,  so  as  to  become  as  pure  and  perfect 
as  one  who  has  never  fallen. 

"  So  of  the  grape  ;  as  long  as  its  skin  is  whole,  it  cannot  fer- 
ment. Nor  can  grape  juice  ferment  until  the  virus — leaven — is 
introduced  into  it.  From  that  moment  the  work  of  contamina- 
tion begins  ;  the  juice  before  was  pure  and  perfect,  but  it  is  now 
impure  and  imperfect. 

"The  fermenting  process  is  a  method  of  saving  what  can  be  saved 
after  a  poisonous  substance  has  been  introduced  into  a  pure  sub- 
stance. 

"The  same  is  true  of  the  salvation  of  man  by  combats.  And 
although  he  may  be  saved  'through  great  tribulation,'  still  he  is  a 
dwarf  in  purity,  compared  with  what  he  would  have  been  had  he 
never  fallen  from  the  divine  image  and  likeness. 

"  But  it  does  not  follow  that  divine  truth,  in  his  mind,  after 
having  been  purified  from  the  false  of  evil,  is  more  pure  and 
perfect  than  it  was  before  that  false  principle  was  mixed  with  it. 

"  It  is  hard  to  comprehend  a  state  of  mind  which  can  attribute 
to  the  Lord  inability  or  want  of  disposition  to  create  pure  things  ; 
and  it  is  still  harder  to  see  how  pure  products  from  the  Divine 
Hand,  such  as  the  grape,  wheat,  corn,  etc.,  should  be  more  pure 
after  the  introduction  of  a  filthy  substance  into  it." 

Now,  from  the  above  presentation  of  this  subject,  it  would  ap- 
pear that  fermented  wine  is  the  quality  of  wine  to  be  used  at  this 
day  in  the  present  state  of  man,  even  in  the  Holy  Supper,  and  if 
the  above  writer's  premises  were  all  sound,  this  would  be  true. 
But  if  he  had  examined  this  subject  a  little  more  carefully,  he 
would  have  found  unanswerable  objections  to  some  of  his  views, 
as  applied  to  natural  wine. 

First :  He  admits  very  correctly  that  the  grape,  and  the  juice 
of  the  grape,  are  pure  until  ferment  enters  to  pollute  these 
organized  products  of  the  vine ;  in  other  words,  he  admits  that 
the  grape  has  never  fallen  ;  in  this  respect  the  juice  of  the  grape 


A  NEW  VIEW.  l6l 

differs  radically  from  the  present  condition  of  man,  and  holds  a 
relation  to  man  before  the  fall. 

Second  :  Being  pure,  like  the  man  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church, 
and  never  like  man  having  been  endowed  with  rationality  and 
freedom,  there  has  been  no  change  in  the  grape  corresponding 
to  the  separation  of  the  will  from  the  understanding  in  man ; 
consequently,  the  Lord  has  made  no  provision  for  its  restoration 
or  regeneration  when  it  becomes  polluted  by  natural  leaven, 
which  corresponds  to  spiritual  leaven  ;  therefore  it  can  no  more 
be  restored  by  leaven',  than  the  man  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church 
could  have  been  by  spiritual  leaven,  after  he  had  commenced 
falling  from  his  original  purity,  and  before  the  separation  of  the 
will  from  the  understanding.  Before  the  separation  of  the  will 
from  the  understanding,  mankind,  after  they  had  commenced 
falling,  could  only  be  prevented  from  descending  to  greater 
depths  of  evil  by  punishments  and  external  restraints  ;  and  it  is 
only  by  corresponding  natural  measures  that  wine,  after  ferment- 
ation has  commenced,  can  be  saved  from  total  decay  or  destruc- 
tion, namely,  by  sulphurization,  boiling,  bottling,  etc. 

Third :  It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  to 
harmonize  the  two  processes,  and  to  show  that  natural  leavenings 
correspond  to  spiritual  leavenings.  When  ferment  has  entered  the 
wine,  and  commenced  its  destructive  work,  the  wine  can  no  more 
be  restored  to  its  original  purity  by  fermentation,  as  we  have, 
just  intimated,  than  the  man  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  after 
he  had  commenced  falling,  could  have  been  restored  by  tempta- 
tions and  spiritual  combats  against  falses. 

Fourth  :  We  know  that  during  fermentation,  that  which  corres- 
ponds to  good  and  truth  does  not  overcome  the  leaven,  and  cast 
it  down  and  to  the  sides ;  but  that  the  leaven  overcomes,  de- 
stroys, casts  down  and  up  organic  substances  which  correspond  to 
spiritual  good  and  truth ;  and  changes  the  sweet,  which  corres- 
ponds to  spiritual  delights,  into  alcohol,  which  gives  rise  to  infer- 
nal delights ;  as  we  so  well  know  by  its  effects  on  man  when  he 
drinks  it ;  consequently,  we  know,  both  from  its  origin  and  effects, 
that  it  corresponds  to  infernal  delights. 


,     •'  —--.:••:  > 

•         : 

-;  :-.%•-  -• 
162  A  NEW  VIEW. 

Fifth  :  Now  we  are  taught  by  our  doctrines  that  in  the  regener- 
ation of  man  at  this  day,  exactly  the  opposite  takes  place,  namely, 
truth  and  good  overcome  the  false  and  evil.  So  it  will  be  seen 
that  while  the  spiritual  combats  during  regeneration  may  be  com- 
pared to  natural  fermentation,  and  the  clearness  and  spiritual 
purity  after  regeneration,  may  be  compared  to  the  clearness 
and  purity  of  liquids  after  fermentation,  in  the  very  nature  of  the 
case  it  is  impossible  that  there  should  be  any  real  correspondence, 
either  between  the  natural  and  spiritual  processes  under  consid- 
eration, or  the  results  which  flow  therefrom. 

But,  says  the  above  correspondent,  in  a  subsequent  communi- 
cation, in  reply  to  the  strictures  on  his  first :  "The  correspond- 
ence of  sweet — spiritual  delight — and  the  correspondence  of 
alcohol — infernal  delight — is  superb.  Still,  I  think,  in  the  end,  that 
you  will  be  obliged  to  acknowledge  the  fact  that  there  is  some 
good  use  in  fermented  wine  (this  wine  contains  only  from  five  to 
ten  per  centum  of  alcohol)  and  in  vinegar.  In  this  you  may 
say  that  wine  that  has  been  fermented  may  be  adapted  to  a  fallen 
Church,  composed  of  fallen  men." 

Exactly  so.  This  is  precisely  what  the  writer  claimed  in  his 
tract,  and  what  is  reiterated  in  an  extract  from  the  same  in  this 
work.  When  men  engrossed  in  the  love  of  spiritual  dominion, 
and  in  the  love  of  self,  money,  and  sensual  gratifications,  searched 
the  Word  of  the  Lord,  and  therefrom  framed  doctrines  which 
were  in  harmony  with  their  perverted  affections,  such  false 
doctrines  were  not  falses  from  ignorance,  but  they  were  falses  from 
evil ;  and  all  of  the  delights  of  such  men  flowed  from  their  evils 
and  the  falses  therefrom.  It  was  therefore  utterly  impossible  that 
plain,  unfermented  wine,  which  simply  gratified  the  orderly  wants 
of  the  body,  giving  true  delight,  health,  and  strength  thereto, 
should  satisfy  men  thus  perverted.  That  which  corresponds  to 
good  and  truth  must  be  destroyed,  and  the  sugar  which  corres- 
ponds to  spiritual  delights  must  be  perverted  into  alcohol,  by 
leaven  and  human  manipulation,  before  the  wine  could  corres- 
pond to  their  spiritual  state  ;  and  then  it  becomes  strictly  appro- 
priate. 


OF    I  nt 

UNIVERSITY 


VINEGAR. 


But  in  the  doctrines  for  the  Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  the 
Lord  again  calls  on  all  men  to  repent,  and  to  put  away  their 
false  doctrines  from  their  understandings,  and  evils  from  their 
lives,  by  a  constant  effort  to  keep  the  divine  commandments, 
not  in  their  own  strength,  but  in  the  strength  which  the  Lord 
ever  gives  to  those  who  ask  of  Him  in  their  daily  lives  — 
not  in  words  only,  but  also  in  deeds.  What  place  has  fermented 
wine,  having  its  origin  from  hell,  and  corresponding  clearly  to 
falses  from  evils  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  true  Church  of  the 
Lord  ?  It  being  the  natural  emblem  of  the  false,  which  is  infer- 
nal ;  can  men  of  this  New  Age,  who  are  striving  to  live  the  life  of 
the  Church,  deliberately,  and  from  choice,  use  such  a  perverted 
fluid  as  a  beverage,  and  not  thereby  be  injured,  both  physically 
and  spiritually  ? 

The  writer  would  remind  the  above  correspondent  that  from 
five  to  ten  per  centum  of  alcohol  in  wine  has  been  sufficient 
to  cause  drunkenness  in  all  ages,  and  among  all  races  of  men 
who  have  used  fermented  wine  ;  as  history  clearly  teaches,  and 
present  observation  abundantly  demonstrates. 

VINEGAR. 

Vinegar,  like  alcohol,  is  a  product  resulting  from  the  decom- 
position of  an  organized  substance  —  sugar.  In  a  concentrated 
form  it  is  a  corrosive  poison  ;  but  when  diluted,  as  it  ordinarily  is 
when  used,  and  only  moderately  taken  ;  then,  compared  with 
fermented  wine  and  beer,  it  is  comparatively  harmless  ;  but  if 
used  as  freely  as  the  latter  fluids  are,  while  it  would  never  cause 
drunkenness,  it  would,  unquestionably,  be  very  injurious  to  the 
health  of  the  body  ;  but  we  shall  see  from  its  correspondence, 
that  it  cannot  be  as  injurious  to  man,  spiritually,  as  fermented 
wine  or  beer. 

"Vinegar  signifies  truth  mixed  with  falses."  (A.  E.  386.) 
"Giving  the  Lord  vinegar  mixed  with  gall  (Matt,  xxvii.  34) 
signifies  the  quality  of  divine  truth  from  the  Word,  such  as  was 
with  the  Jewish  nation,  namely,  that  it  was  commixed  with  the 
false  of  evil,  and  thereby  altogether  falsified  and  adulterated, 


1 64  VINEGAR. 

wherefore  He  would  not  drink  it."  (A.  E.  519.)  "  Gall  signifies 
the  same  as  wormwood,  or  infernal  falsity."  (A.  E.  376.)  So 
it  will  be  seen  that  vinegar  alone,  simply  diluted  with  water  [sig- 
nifying truth],  signifies  truths  mixed  with  falses. 

Diluted  vinegar,  like  alcohol,  will  preserve  animal  and  vegetable 
substances,  although  not  so  perfectly ;  but  it  is  used,  as  is  well 
known,  for  this  purpose. 

The  appetite  for  acids  is  unquestionably  a  natural  appetite  ;  and 
when  suitable  acids  are  used  temperately  they  supply  a  want,  and 
are  useful;  but  vinegar,  being  the  product  of  decomposition,  as 
we  would  expect,  very  imperfectly,  if  at  all,  supplies  this  want. 
It  will  not,  like  lemon  or  lime  juice,  prevent  the  scurvy  where 
persons  are  for  long  periods  deprived  of  vegetable  food  and 
fresh  meats,  as  on  board  ships,  and  during  the  long  winters  of  a 
northern  clime. 

Wherever  it  is  possible,  it  is  certain  that  the  juice  of  acid  fruits, 
such  as  lemons,  limes,  and  currants,  should  be  substituted  for 
vinegar.  One  who  has  never  tried  it  cannot  realize  the  superi- 
ority of  lemon  juice  over  vinegar,  when  used  on  salads,  greens, 
meats  and  fish.  We  all  know  how  superior  it  is,  in  preparing 
acid  drinks,  to  vinegar.  Of  course,  we  cannot  preserve  vegetable 
and  animal  substances  with  such  living  or  organized  acids,  as  we 
can  with  vinegar ;  but  if,  after  having  preserved  them  in  vinegar, 
we  were  to  soak  them  in  water,  so  as  to  remove  the  vinegar,  and 
then  apply  lemon  juice  as  we  use  them,  it  would  be  an  improve- 
ment. 

The  use  of  vinegar  should  undoubtedly  be  discouraged,  by  re- 
commending the  use  of  vegetable  acids  in  its  stead,  rather  than 
encouraged ;  but  when  the  use  of  vinegar  is  compared  with  the 
use  of  fermented  wine,  beer,  or  cider,  it  is  comparatively  harm- 
less— or,  as  much  so  as  the  reception  of  trnth  mixed  with  falses 
into  the  memory  and  understanding  is,  when  compared  with  falses 
which  are  received  and  cherished  by  an  evil  love  or  perverted 
affection — consequently,  vinegar  rarely  develops  an  unnatural  ap- 
petite which  cannot  be  satisfied  with  wholesome  vegetable  acids. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

COMMUNION   WINE   AND    ITS   PREPARATION   AND   PRESERVATION. 

WHEN  the  wine  question  is  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  New 
Jerusalem  Church,  and  carefully  examined,  there  would  seem  to 
be  no  question  as  to  the  kind  of  wine  which  should  be  used  at 
the  Holy  Supper. 

The  vine  has  a  good  signification,  for  it  signifies  "good  and 
truth  spiritual."  (A.  E.  403.)  Vine  or  vineyard  signifies  the 
Church,  where  the  Word  is,  by  which  the  Lord  is  known,  conse- 
quently, the  Christian  Church.  (A.  R.  650).  Grapes  have  a 
good  signification,  for  they  signify  the  goods  of  charity,  which 
are  the  goods  of  life.  (A.  E.  375.)  Grapes  and  clusters 
signify  works  of  charity,  because  they  are  the  fruits  of  the  vine 
and  the  vineyard,  and  by  fruits  in  the  Word  are  signified  good 
works.  (A.  R.  649.)  The  blood  of  the  grape,  or  the  juice 
which  flows,  when  the  skin  is  punctured  or  burst,  with  little  or  no 
pressure  but  the  weight  of  the  cluster,  and  which  is  the  sweetest 
portion  of  the  grape,  has  the  highest  signification.  "  The  blood 
of  the  grape  signifies  spiritual-celestial  good,  which  is  the  name 
given  to  the  divine  in  heaven  proceeding  from  the  Lord ;  wine 
is  called  the  blood  of  grapes,  since  each  signifies  holy  truth  pro- 
ceeding from  the  Lord;  wine,  however,  is  predicated  of  the 
spiritual,  and  blood  of  the  celestial ;  and  this  being  the  case 
wine  was  enjoined  in  the  Holy  Supper."  (A.  C.  5117.)  "By 
the  blood  of  the  grape  is  also  signified  truth  from  spiritual  good, 
the  same  as  by  wine  in  Deut.  xxxii.  14."  (A.  E.  918.) 

That  unfermented  wine,  which  is  produced  by  crushing  and 
pressing  the  grapes,  also  has  a  good  signification  is  beyond 
question.  " '  Thus  saith  Jehovah,  As  the  new  wine  is  found  in 
the  duster ;  and  He  saith,  spoil  it  not,  because  a  blessing  is  in 
it'  (Isaiah  Ixv.  8)  :  the  new  wine  in  the  cluster  denotes  truth 

(105) 


1 66  COMMUNION  WINE. 

from  good  in  the  natural  principle."  (A.  C.  5117.)  This  new 
wine  found  in  the  cluster  is  not  fermented  wine,  for  alcohol  is 
not  found  in  a  cluster  of  grapes.  "  Whereas  all  truth  is  from 
good,  as  all  wine  is  from  grapes,  therefore  by  wine  in  the  Word 
is  signified  truth  from  good."  (A.  E.  918.)  If  all  wine  is  from 
grapes,  as  Swedenborg  has  assured  us,  and  the  grapes  do  not  con- 
tain any  alcohol,  how  can  we  claim  that  fermented  wine  which  is 
full  of  alcohol  is  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  or  that  it  has  a  good  significa- 
tion ;  especially  when  we  know,  as  we  do,  that  the  alcohol  is  not 
even  the  product  of  the  vine,  but  that  it  is  produced  by  the 
actual  destruction  of  the  gluten  and  sugar,  both  good  and  useful 
ingredients  of  the  wine,  by  ferment  or  leaven,  which  signifies 
"the  false  of  evil,"  and  "the  evil  and  the  false,"  which,  Sweden- 
borg tells  us,  " should  not  be  mixed  with  things  good  and  true?" 
And  yet  in  the  case  of  fermented  wine,  by  the  ingenuity  of  man 
in  providing  vessels,  keeping  it  at  a  proper  temperature,  and  with 
the  necessary  exposure  to  the  air  and  no  more,  this  substance — • 
leaven — has  been  mixed  with  the  new  wine,  and  has  disorganized 
and  destroyed  the  vegetable  compounds  which  the  Lord  had  so 
carefully  organized  in  the  grape  for  the  sustenance  of  man,  until, 
in  the  end,  there  is  scarcely  a  trace  of  some  of  the  most 
important  and  useful  of  the  natural  ingredients  of  the  wine 
left ;  and  until  by  the  destructive  action  of  the  leaven  there 
has  been  substituted  for  the  gluten,  sugar,  and  other  organic 
ingredients  of  the  wine,  the  most  to  be  dreaded,  and  which  has 
proved  to  the  human  race  the  most  deadly  poison  ever  pro- 
duced by  man,  it  having  destroyed  more  human  beings  than  all 
other  poisons  put  together.  Swedenborg  tells  us,  as  we  have 
already  quoted  in  a  previous  chapter,  that  all  substances  which 
hurt  and  kill  men  have  their  origin  from  hell.  Thus,  then,  there 
can  be  no  question  as  to  the  origin  of  the  alcohol  in  fermented 
wine.  In  fact,  as  we  have  elsewhere  shown,  Swedenborg  in  his 
work,  "Apocalypse  Explained"  (No.  1035),  compares  "falses  from 
evil,"  which  we  know  are  from  hell,  to  such  wine  as  will  induce 
drunkenness,  and  we  know  that  the  wine  which  will  induce  this 
fearful  state,  in  which  reason  and  self-control  are  overthrown,  is 


COMMUNION  WINE.  167 

never  unfermented  wine,  but  that  it  is  always  fermented  wine, 
and  history  shows  that  it  has  induced  drunkenness  in  all  ages  of 
the  world,  and  for  countless  ages  before  distilled  liquors  were 
known.  Is  there — can  there  be — any  excuse  for  the  use  of  an 
intoxicating  wine  as  communion  wine  in  the  sacrament  of  the 
Holy  Supper,  gentle  reader?  But  do  not  be  over  hasty  to 
condemn  all  wine.  Please  bear  in  mind  that  the  vine,  the 
grape,  the  blood  of  the  grape,  all  have  a  good  signification, 
unquestionably  good,  when  unpolluted  by  fermentation.  The 
same  is  true  of  must,  for  Svvedenborg  tells  us  that  "must  signifies 
the  same  as  wine,  namely,  truth  derived  from  the  good  of  charity 
and  love."  (A.  E.  695.) 

Webster  defines  must  [Latin,  mustum~\  as  "wine  pressed  from 
the  grape,  but  not  fermented"  Worcester  defines  it,  "the  sweet 
or  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape  :  NEW  WINE."  So  that  both 
authorities  say  that  the  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape  is  wine. 
Must  has  the  same  signification,  because  it  is  new  wine.  It  is 
only  when  leaven  or  ferment  commences  its  fearful  work  of  dis- 
organization, destruction,  and  pollution,  in  the  new  wine  or  must, 
that  it  ever  has  a  bad  signification  ;  but  after  it  has  been  so  mixed 
with  leaven  and  polluted  by  it,  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  it  never 
has  a  good  signification,  for  the  wine  then  becomes  a  perverted  and 
poisonous  fluid  as  we  should  naturally  expect.  Swedenborg  says  : 
"  Leaven  signifies  the  evil  and  the  false,  whereby  things  celestial 
and  spiritual  are  rendered  impure  and  profane."  (A.  C.  2342.) 

And  yet  it  is  wine,  the  noble  fruit  of  the  vine,  corresponding 
to  things  spiritual  and  celestial,  which  has  been  rendered  by  the 
action  of  leaven  impure,  and  the  natural  symbol  of  spiritual 
impurity  and  profanity,  which  is  to-day,  with  only  here  and  there 
an  exception,  being  used  as  communion  wine  in  the  organized 
societies  of  the  New  Jerusalem  Church  in  this  country,  and  of 
which  men  and  women,  who  clearly  see  the  truth,  are  compelled 
to  partake  or  stand  aloof  from  the  most  holy  ordinance-  Of  this 
wine  so  generally  used,  one  of  the  editors  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
Magazine  says  :  "  If  one  has  acquired  a  depraved  taste  for  it,  it 
may  be  well  for  him  to  deprive  himself  of  it  altogether,  not 


168  COMMUNION  WINE. 

excepting  its  use  at  the  Holy  Supper."     Do  men  acquire  a  de- 
praved taste  for  healthy  articles — as  for  bread  and  fruit  ? 

Is  it  not  sad  that  through  the  perversion  of  an  ordinance,  a 
teacher  in  the  New  Church  should  feel  it  to  be  his  duty  to 
suggest  to  some  who  desire  to  partake  of  the  Holy  Supper,  the 
expediency  of  remaining  away  from  the  heavenly  feast,  of  which 
the  Lord  commanded  all  to  partake  ?  And  this,  not  because  of 
unfitness  in  themselves,  but  lest  the  Supper  may  lead  them  into 
temptation ;  and  sadder  still,  that  he  should  not  see  from  the 
teaching  of  the  Word,  and  from  the  philosophy  of  the  New 
Church,  and  the  science  of  correspondences,  as  contained  in  the 
Writings  of  Swedenborg,  that  the  Lord  never  placed  this  tempta- 
tion before  any ;  and  that  it  is  impossible  that  He  could  do  so  in 
any  ordinance  which  He  instituted  for  the  benefit  of  His  people, 
and  the  use  of  which  He  makes  obligatory  upon  them  ?  As  the 
Holy  Supper  came  to  us  from  the  Lord,  there  was  nothing  about 
it  to  incite  or  minister  to  a  depraved  taste. 

That  men  of  the  first  Christian  Church,  with  simply  the 
knowledge  of  the  literal  sense  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  should 
advocate  and  use  fermented  wine  is  not  surprising,  but  that  a 
New  Churchman,  with  the  knowledge  which  he  can  readily 
obtain  from  the  Writings  of  Swedenborg  of  the  spiritual  sense  of 
the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  of  causes,  and  the  correspondence  which 
exist  between  all  natural  and  spiritual  things,  habits,  and  effects, 
and  the  express  teaching  of  Swedenborg  upon  this  subject,  to 
which  we  have  referred  in  this  work,  can  for  a  moment  attempt  to 
justify  the  use  of  fermented  wine  as  communion  wine,  is  beyond 
the  comprehension  of  the  writer,  upon  any  other  supposition 
than  that  he  has  not  carefully  examined  this  subject;  and  to 
bring  this  question  fairly  before  his  brethren,  and  to  ask  their 
most  serious  consideration  of  it,  is  the  object  of  this  chapter. 

Says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nott:  "Can  the  same  thing  in  the  same 
state  be  good  and  bad ;  a  symbol  of  wrath,  and  a  symbol  of  mercy ; 
a  thing  to  be  sought  after,  and  a  thing  to  be  avoided  ?  Certainly 
not.  And  is  the  Bible,  then,  inconsistent  with  itself!  No, 
certainly." 


COMMUNION  WINE.  169 

"Here,  then,"  says  Dr.  Rich,  "is  the  rational  and  righteous 
basis  for  the  discriminating  statutes  of  God.  The  beverage  that 
was  characterized  by  power  to  produce  a  sensible  stimulation, 
a  nervous  excitement,  was  forbidden  ;  the  beverage  that  satisfied 
a  natural  appetite,  and  afforded  strength  without  stimulation  was 
commended." 

Dr.  Rich's  special  conclusion  is  thus  stated  :  "  There  is  no 
threatening,  or  prohibition,  or  visitation  of  judgment,  as  I  can 
remember,  based  on  the  discrimination  between  an  excessive  and 
a  limited  or  temperate  use  (as  it  is  called)  of  intoxicants." 

Does  not  the  poor,  reformed  inebriate  who  is  struggling  to  shun 
this  evil,  need  -the  aid  to  be  derived  from  partaking  of  the  wine 
at  the  Holy  Supper  as  much  as  any  one  ?  We  ask  the  thought- 
ful reader,  if  the  wine  of  which  it  is  thus  dangerous  to  even  take 
a  single  swallow,  can  by  any  possibility  be  the  same  kind  of  wine 
of  which  our  Lord  and  Master  said  "drink  ye  all  cf  it"? 

"I  think,"  says  the  Rev.  Joseph  Cook,  "It  is  beyond  dispute 
among  the  scholars  of  the  first  rank  that  at  the  Passover  the  wine 
used  was  non- intoxicating,  and  that  our  Lord  instituted  the  Holy 
Supper  with  such  wine."  (Encyc.  Brit.,  8th  ed.,  art.  "Pass- 
over".) 

In  his  former  tract,  the  writer  purposely  avoided  a  full  con- 
sideration of  this  subject,  for  he  felt  that  the  impropriety  of  using 
an  intoxicating  wine  in  the  most  Holy  Supper  was  so  manifest 
that  it  was  unnecessary  to  say  more  than  to  barely  allude  to 
the  subject,  and  to  call  the  attention  of  New  Churchmen  to  it. 
But  some  rather  rough  experience,  and  further  consideration  of 
the  subject  has  satisfied  him  that  he  was  mistaken  as  to  the 
necessity  and  too  hopeful  in  his  expectations ;  and  to-day  he 
feels  fully  satisfied  that  nothing  is  more  necessary  or  desirable  for 
the  welfare  of  the  Church,  than  that  this  subject  should  be  dis- 
cussed fully  and  fairly.  So  long  as  intoxicating  wine  is  used  for 
sacramental  purposes,  drunkenness  will  never  cease  in  the  Church, 
for  many  of  its  members,  and  the  young  people  who  are  looking 
toward  the  Church,  will  reason  that  "  if  it  is  suitable  for  such  a 
3 


170  COMMUNION  WINE. 

purpose,  it  cannot  be  bad  in  itself;  and  it  will  not  harm  me  to 
drink  a  little — 'temperately,'  of  course."  Among  those  who 
begin  to  drink  this  seductive  fluid,  a  goodly  number  will  inevit- 
ably become  drunkards  ;  and  many  more  will  richly  deserve  the 
"name,  and  die  from  the  effects  of  drinking,  whose  fall  may  not 
be  so  complete  and  open  as  to  cause  them  to  be  generally  recog- 
nized as  drunkards.  All  who  drink  intoxicating  drinks,  as  we 
have  seen,  will  be  injured  thereby,  in  mind  and  body,  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent ;  for  they  are  almost  sure  to  become  "moody  in 
mind  and  diseased  in  body,  sooner  or  later,"  however  "tempe- 
rately" they  may  use  such  beverages. 

"When  a  reformed  drunkard,"  says  the  Rev.  Joseph  Cook, 
"  sits  down  in  a  pew,  and  finds  his  neighboring  Church  member  a 
moderate  drinker,  and  his  pastor  holding  up  the  Bible  in  one 
hand,  and  the  glass  of  moderate  drinking  in  the  other,  the  strug- 
gling, converted  inebriate  has  not  come  into  a  place  of  safety. 
The  Church  is  not  a  fold  that  is  securing  him  from  the  wolves ; 
it  is  not  a  place  where  he  can  repose." 

Willard  Parker,  M.D.,  of  New  York,  asks,  in  his  address  at  the 
American  Association  for  the  Cure  of  Inebriates,  "  What  is  alco- 
hol ?  The  answer  is — a  poison.  It  is  so  regarded  by  the  best 
writers  and  teachers  on  toxicology.  I  refer  to  Orfila,  Christison, 
and  the  like,  who  class  it  with  arsenic,  corrosive  sublimate,  and 
prussic  acid.  Like  these  poisons,  when  introduced  into  the  sys- 
tem, it  is  capable  of  destroying  life  without  acting  mechanically. 
Introduced  into  the  system,  it  induces  a  general  disease,  as  well 
marked  as  intermittent  fever,  smallpox,  or  lead  poison." 

In  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Patton,  he  says :  "  The  alcohol  is 
the  one  evil  genius,  whether  in  wine,  or  ale,  or  whisky,  and  is 
killing  the  race  of  men.  Stay  the  ravages  of  this  one  poison, 
alcohol,  that  king  of  poisons,  the  mightiest  weapon  of  the  devil, 
and  the  millennium  will  soon  dawn." 

No  higher,  nor  more  respected  medical  authority,  in  this 
country  can  be  given  than  Dr.  Willard  Parker,  and  his  language, 
it  will  be  seen,  as  to  the  effects  of  drinking  intoxicating  drinks  on 
the  American  people,  is  almost  precisely  the  same  as  that  used 


COMMUNION  WINE.  171 

more  than  a  century  ago  by  Swedenborg,  as  to  the  effects  on 
the  Swedish  people  of  using  such  drinks.  In  reply  to  our 
selections  from  the  writings  of  Dr.  Parker,  Dr.  Richardson,  the 
section  on  medicine  in  the  International  Medical  Congress  held 
in  Philadelphia  in  1876,  and  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  as  to  the 
effect  of  alcoholic  drinks  on  men,  the  "Academy  of  the  New 
Church  "  in  its  Words  for  the  New  Church,  says  : 

"  Of  one  thing  we  feel  assured,  that  the  class  of  selections  from  which 
Dr.  Ellis  has  seen  fit  to  choose  cannot  be  genuine,  because  they  dispute 
revealed  truth." 

Swedenborg,  then,  in  the  estimation  of  our  brethren  of  the 
Academy,  disputed  revealed  truth  when  he  declared  that  it  would 
be  more  desirable  for  his  country's  welfare  and  morality,  that  the 
consumption  of  whisky  should  be  done  away  with  altogether 
"  than  all  the  income  which  could  be  realized  from  so  pernicious 
a  drink."  The  writer  does  not  think  the  Academy  manifests 
either  much  modesty  or  wisdom  when  it  attempts,  as  it  does, 
to  offset  the  testimony  of  the  highest  medical  authorities  in  the 
world,  and  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  by  the  views  of  compara- 
tively obscure  writers  in  our  periodicals. 

THE   WINE   USED    BY  THE    LORD  AND  HIS   DISCIPLES  IN  THE   ORIGINAL 
INSTITUTION   OF   THE   SACRAMENT. 

"  The  great  Bible  student  of  this  and  all  ages,"  says  the  Rev.  Dr. 
G.  W.  Samson,  "was  Jerome  [born  A.  D.  332].  As  a  representa- 
tive of  the  early  Church  at  Rome,  yet  spending  half  his  life  in  the 
land  of  Jesus  and  of  the  first  Apostles,  his  translation  of  the  Greek 
New  Testament  into  Latin  became  the  foundation  of  the  Latin 
Vulgate  ;  while  his  voluminous  commentaries  and  epistles  are  an 
invaluable  treasure  in  every  department  of  Biblical  science.  On 
Hoseaii.  9,  he  defines  tirosh  as  'the  fruit  of  the  vintage';  his 
comment  corresponding  with  his  translation  already  noted.  In 
commenting  on  Amos  ix.  14,  he  compares  the  'blood  of  Christ' 
to  the  '  red  must '  flowing  into  the  wine-vat.  Upon  Matt.  ix.  1 7, 
he  says  that  new  skins  \utrcs\  must  be  used  for  wine  that  is  to 
be  preserved  as  must,  because  the  remains  .of  former  ferment 


172      WINE  USED  BY  THE  LORD  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  IN 

attaches  to  the  old  skins ;  and  he  regards  this  to  be  the  essential 
point  in  Christ's  comparison  ;  that  the  soul  \_anima\  in  which 
His  truth  will  be  safely  deposited  must  be  entirely  renovated  and 
freed  from  all  remains  of  former  corruption,,  so  as  to  be  '  polluted 
with  no  contagion  of  former  vice.'  In  commenting  (Matt.  xxvi. 
26-29)  on  Christ's  choice  of  language  :  'I  will  not  drink  hence- 
forth of  this  fruit  of  the  vine,'  he  takes  for  granted,  as  under- 
stood by  all,  that  must  is  referred  to  ;  and  he  cites  as  illustrative 
of  the  wine  at  the  Supper,  the  fresh  grape  juice  of  Gen.  xl.  n, 
and  the  'noble  vine'  of  Jer.  ii.  21,  as  indicating  the  character  of 
the  vine,  as  well  as  of  its  product,  which  is  referred  to  in  Christ's 
words,  'I  am  the  vine.'  On  Gal.  v.  16-21,  among  the  'lusts  of 
the  flesh,'  Jerome  mentions  wine-drinking,  and  urges  the  duty  of 
abstinence  from  wines.  He  says  :  '  In  wine  is  excess;  as  taught 
in  Eph.  v.  1 8,  youth  should  flee  wine  as  they  would  poison.' 
Alluding  to  the  plea  that  Christ  used  wine  at  the  Supper,  and 
that  St.  Paul  recommended  the  use  of  wine  to  Timothy,  Jerome 
says  :  '  Elsewhere,  we  were  made  acquainted  with  both  the  wine 
to  be  consecrated  into  the  blood  of  Christ  and  the  wine  ordered 
to  Timothy  that  he  should  drink  it.'  " 

Rev.  Dr.  Samson,  in  a  recent  work,  in  which  he  replies  to  the 
writers  who  have  criticised  his  former  work  already  noticed, 
on  the  "Divine  Law  of  Wines,"  makes  the  following  statement : 

"  The  wine  made  by  Christ  at  the  wedding  has  this  succession 
of  testimonials  in  confirmation  :  first,  the  fact  that  conforming 
Jews,  of  whom  Jesus  through  His  life  was  one,  from  time  imme- 
morial have  used  unfermented  wine  at  weddings ;  second,  the 
best,  most  costly  and  always  first-used  wine,  in  ancient  and 
modern  banquets,  has  been  the  lightest,  and  among  the  Romans 
this  was  unfermented ;  third,  Cyril,  bishop  of  the  Church  in 
Jerusalem  about  A.  D.  380,  expressly  declares  this,  while  Geikie, 
in  his  now  popular  "Life  of  Christ,  "returns  to  the  early  Christian 
view  of  the  nature  of  the  miracle.  As  to  the  charge  against 
Christ  that  he  was  a  'wine-bibber,'  all  Christians  regard  it  as 
much  a  calumny  as  that  He  was  a  'glutton'  and  a  'friend'  of 
abandoned  women.  That  the  'fruit  of  the  vine'  used  at  the 


THE  ORIGINAL  INSTITUTION  OF  THE  SACRAMENT.      173 

Supper  was  unfermented,  is  confirmed  by  these  testimonies : 
first,  the  natural  meaning  of  the  terms  '  fruit  of  the  vine '  :  second, 
the  immemorial  custom  of  conscientious  Jews  at  their  Passover, 
which  '  cup '  was  the  same  used  by  Christ  at  the  institution  of  the 
Supper ;  third,  the  direct  statement  of  Clement,  A.D.  200,  and  of 
Jerome,  A.D.  400.  That  the  gleukos  was  unintoxicating  Cyril 
declared,  A.D.  380,  while  writers  of  the  views  of  Horace  Bum- 
stead  now  admit  this  ;  and  that  gleukos  was  included  under  oinos 
lexicographers  of  every  age  and  land  agree.  As  to  the  view  of 
Paul's  advice  to  Timothy,  the  accordant  statements  of  Eusebius, 
A.D.  320,  of  Athanasius,  A.D.  325,  of  Cyril,  A.  D.  380,  and  of 
Jerome,  A.D.  400,  that  Paul  commended  abstinence  in  Timothy 
(i  Tim.  v.  23),  as  he  had  before  enjoined  it  on  the  Church  of 
which  he  was  pastor  (Eph.  v.  18),  is  in  accordance  with  all 
ancient  and  modern  legislation  as  to  wines.  As  to  the  quality  of 
the  wines  commended  by  Paul,  Roman  writers  and  their  French 
annotators  show  that  must  is  their  basis,  if  not  their  only  ingre- 
dient ;  for  it  is  not  the  alcohol,  but  the  nourishing  ingredients 
of  wines,  that  constitute  their  utility  in  chronic  indigestion ; 
while  strong  alcoholic  wines  were  commended  by  the  Greek  and 
Roman  physicians  for  acute  and  painful  diseases,  such  as  strangu- 
ary  and  dysentery." 

"All,"  says  the  Rev.  A.  S.  Wells,  "that  relates  to  this  subject 
(viz.,  the  institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper),  in  the  New  Testament, 
may  be  found  in  Matt.  xxvi.  17-29  ;  Mark  xiv.  12-26  ;  Luke  xxii. 
7-20,  and  i  Cor.  xi.  23-29." 

"  Take  your  Bible  and  carefully  read  and  consider  these  words. 
They  contain  the  historical  account  and  the  express  directions 
and  commands  of  Jesus  Christ  on  this  subject,  and  all  that  He  or 
His  Apostles  have,  said  or  written  upon  it,  except  some  allusions 
to  this  ordinance  which  are  found  in  i  Cor.  v.  6-8,  and  x.  16-21. 
This  matter  is  contained  within  a  small  compass,  and  can,  there- 
fore, be  easily  comprehended.  From  these  passages  we  see  : 
First :  That  the  Lord's  supper  was  appointed  at  the  close  of  the 
Passover  feast,  and  before  our  Saviour  and  His  disciples  had 
arisen  from  the  table.  Matthew  says  :  'And  as  they  were  eating 


174      WINE  USED  BY  THE  LORD  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  IN 

(*.  e.,  the  Passover),  He  took  the  cup  and  gave  thanks,  and  gave 
it  to  them,  saying,  Drink  ye  all  of  it?  Second  :  Notice  also, 
that  our  Saviour  used  the  same  elements  of  bread  and  wine  which 
they  had  used  in  the  feast  of  the  Passover.  No  new  cup  was 
brought  in  at  the  time  He  instituted  the  memorial  of  His  death. 
He  took  the  Passover  cup,  and  it  was  of  the  wine  which  it  con- 
tained that  He  expressly  commanded  His  disciples ;  saying, 
6  Drink  ye  all  of  it: 

"  Now  we  have  abundant  evidence  that  the  wine  of  the  Passover 
was  unfermented. 

"  First :  This  is  seen  in  the  name  which  our  Saviour  gave  to  the 
contents  of  the  Passover  cup.  Neither  He  nor  His  Apostles,  in 
speaking  of  this  element  in  the  sacramental  emblems,  call  it  wine 
at  all.  Our  Saviour  foresaw  how,  in  after  ages,  the  term  wine 
would  generally  be  understood  to  mean  that  which  was  fermented 
and  intoxicating,  and,  therefore,  wholly  inappropriate  as  a  symbol 
of  His  precious  blood ;  and  to  guard  the  Church  against  this 
danger  He  employs  a  term  which,  in  all  ages  and  languages, 
could  not  be  misunderstood,  and  He  calls  that  wine  He  would 
have  us  use  in  this  ordinance  'the  fruit  of  the  vine.'  This 
term  truly  describes  the  new,  sweet,  unfermented  wine  which  God 
Himself  creates  in  a  cluster,  and  which  He  pronounces  a  bless- 
ing (Isa.  Ixv.  8),  like  the  oil  and  the  bread  with  which  it  is  asso- 
ciated as  an  article  of  diet.  This  was,  indeed,  a  good  creature 
of  God,  and  to  be  received  with  thanksgiving.  But  when  God's 
wine  has  been,  by  man's  invention,  subjected  to  a  chemical  pro- 
cess, and  becomes  fermented,  it  is  no  longer  the  fruit  of  the  vine, 
but  another  substance  altogether :  it  has  been  changed  in  its 
essential  principles,  and  is  now  a  poisonous  compound  of  alcohol 
and  carbonic  acid.  Its  sugar  and  gluten  which  were  in  the  fruit 
of  the  vine,  both  of  which  are  nutritious  and  help  to  build  up  and 
repair  the  waste  of  our  bodies,  are  now,  by  fermentation,  con- 
verted into  alcoholic  poison  and  other  substances,  all  of  which 
are  almost,  if  not  utterly,  destitute  of  any  nourishing  qualities 
whatever. 


THE  ORIGINAL  INSTITUTION  OF  THE  SACRAMENT.     175 

"Again  :  we  know  that  the  Passover  wine  was  the  new,  sweet, 
and  unfermented  wine,  not  only  by  the  name  our  Saviour  gave  it 
as  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  but 

"Second :  By  the  express  law  of  the  Passover,  excluding  all 
leaven  from  the  elements  used  at  that  feast.  Read  carefully  the 
following  passages,  and  you  will  see  the  proof  is  full  and 
unanswerable  ;  Ex.  xii.  15-20  ;  xiii.  6-7  ;  xxxiv.  25  ;  Lev.  ii.  n  ; 
x.  12,  and  Amos  iv.  5.  Here  you  will  notice  that  there  is 
an  utter  prohibition  of  leaven  and  of  all  that  has  been  leavened  or 
fermented,  not  only  from  the  Passover  feast,  but  from  everything 
offered  in  sacrifice  to  God.  This  included  fermented  wine  as 
well  as  the  fermented  bread.  If  it  is  said  that  wine  is  not  men- 
tioned in  these  passages,  we  reply,  it  was  included  in  the  prohibi- 
tion of  the  unleavened  bread ;  else  there  is  no  divine  warrant 
for  its  use  at  all  in  the  Passover ;  but  as  our  Saviour  used  it.  His 
example  settles  its  divine  appointment. 

"In  his  commentary  on  John  ii.  10,  the  Rev.  Albert  Barnes 
says  :  'The  wine  of  Judea  was  the  pure  juice  of  the  grape,  without 
any  mixture  of  alcohol,  and  commonly  weak  and  harmless.  It 
was  the  common  drink  of  the  people,  and  did  not  tend  to  pro- 
duce intoxication.' " 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Duffield  says  :  "For  the  Jews,  in  observing  the 
Passover — which  feast  he  was  celebrating  when  he  instituted  the 
sacrament  of  His  Supper — were  prohibited  from  the  use  of  any- 
thing whatever,  whether  food  or  drink,  that  was  fermented  (Ex. 
xii.  15)  ;  and  to  this  day  they  rigidly  observe  the  original  regula- 
tion."— Bible  Rule  of  Temperance  (p.  181.) 

The  Rev.  Dr.  C.  H.  Fowler,  says:  "The  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  is  rescued  by  the  simple  fact  that  this  was  the 
feast  of  the  Passover  which  Jesus  set  apart  as  His  memorial,  and 
that  the  Jews  ate  nothing  that  had  yeast  or  ferment  in  it  at  this 
feast.  They  were  forbidden  to  offer  anything  that  had  leaven  or 
yeast  in  it  to  the  Lord.  There  is  no  indication  that  Jesus  sent 
out  and  procured  intoxicating  wine,  when  He  had  a  supply  of 
unfermented  wine.  Jesus  even  called  it  '  the  fruit  of  the  vine? 
not  the  fruit  of  decomposition  and  fermentation. 


176      WINE  USED  BY  THE  LORD  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  IN 

"  God  promised  that  His  Holy  One  should  not  see  corruption. 
God  said  to  the  sacrificing  Jews  :  'Thou  shalt  not  offer  the  blood 
of  my  sacrifice  with  leaven.'  Jesus  gave  the  wine  as  His  blood 
of  the  new  Testament.  It  is  not  reasonable  that  He  sought  out 
a  forbidden  element  for  the  purpose  of  exposing  His  sacrament 
to  perpetual  criticism.  It  is  enough  that  Jesus  called  it  'the 
fruit  of  the  vine.'" 

Dr.  S.  M.  Isaacs,  an  eminent  Jewish  rabbi  of  this  city,  says : 
"In  the  Holy  Land  they  do  not  commonly  use  fermented  wines. 
The  best  wines  are  preserved  sweet  and  unfermented."  In 
reference  to  their  customs,  at  their  religious  festivals,  he  repeat- 
edly and  emphatically  says  :  "The  Jews  do  not,  in  their  feast  for 
sacred  purposes,  including  the  marriage  feast,  ever  use  any  kind 
of  fermented  drinks.  In  their  oblations  and  libations,  both 
private  and  public,  they  employ  the  fruit  of  the  vine — that  is, 
fresh  grapes — unfermented  grape  juice,  and  raisins,  as  the  symbol 
of  benediction.  Fermentation  is  to  them  always  a  symbol  of 
corruption,  as  in  nature  and  science  it  is  itself  decay,  rottenness." 
— Bible  Wines. 

The  Hon.  P.  J.  Joachimsen,  whose  intelligence  "  as  a  judge, 
as  well  as  the  eminent  culture  and  charities  of  his  esteemed  lady, 
are  well  known  in  New  York,"  makes  the  following  reply  to  a 
letter  of  inquiry  from  Dr.  Samson  : 

No.  336,  EAST  69™  STREET,  February  15,  1881. 

REVEREND  AND  DEAR  SIR, — In  answer  to  your  favor  of  yesterday's  date, 
I  repeat  that  the  great  majority  of  conforming  Jews  in  this  city  use  wine 
made  from  raisins  at  the  Passover  feast.  Of  course  the  raisins  are  fresh, 
Such  raisin-wine  is  used  in  all  conforming  synagogues  for  the  sanctification 
of  Shabbat  and  holy  days ;  i.  e.,  for  Kiddush  and  also  for  services  at  cir- 
cumcisions and  weddings.  Some,  but  not  many,  people  use  imported  wine 
— Italian,  Hungarian,  or  German — which  is  certified  as  "  Perach"  or"  Kosher 

wine." 

I  am,  yours  most  truly,  J.  P.  JOACHIMSEN. 

The  Rev.  W.  M.  Thayer,  in  his  work  on  "Communion  Wine," 
says  :  "  The  Saviour's  language  implies  that  He  continued  the  prac- 
tice of  using  the  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape.  At  the  institu- 
tion of  the  Supper,  he  did  not  use  the  word  '  wine'  \pnios~\ — 


THE  ORIGINAL  INSTITUTION  OF  THE  SACRAMENT.     177 

the  word  in  general  use  among  the  people ;  but  he  employed  a 
phrase  which  is  translated  'fruit  of  the  vine?  We  have  His 
language  recorded  three  times  (Matt.  xxvi.  27-29;  Mark  xiv. 
23-25  ;  Luke'xxii.  19,  20),  and  in  each  instance  it  is  'fruit  of  the 
vine?  As  if  he  would  distinguish  the  wine  which  was  used  on 
that  occasion  from  that  which  the  people  were  taught  not  to 
'look  upon/  and  which  would  'bite  like  a  serpent  and  sting  like 
an  adder '  !  As  if  he  meant  that  no  man  should  ever  point  to 
His  example  on  that  sacred  occasion  to  defend  the  use  of  intoxi- 
cating wine  on  a  secular  occasion.  It  has  the  appearance  of 
a  studied,  consistent,  Christian  arrangement  to  discard  the 
1  mocker.'  If  the  Saviour  used  oinos  at  the  Supper,  it  is  singular, 
at  least,  that  he  avoided  the  name  by  which  it  was  known,  and 
called  it  'fruit  of  the  vine.' 

"  We  submit,  too,  that  the  grape  itself,  or  the  newly  expressed 
juice,  is  'the  fruit  of  the  vine'  in  a  truer  sense  than  fermented 
wine  can  be.  For  all  chemists  say  that  fermentation  destroys  the 
nutritive  element  of  grape  juice,  while  the  unfermented  juice  is 
highly  nutritious.  The  latter  is  innocent  and  healthful,  while  the 
former  is  '  dangerous'  and  harmful  to  persons  in  health. 

"  It  is  objected  that  Christ  said  :  'Verily  I  say  unto  you,  I  will 
no  more  drink  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  until  that  day  I  drink  it  new 
in  the  kingdom  of  God'  (Mark  xiv.  25).  And  these  words  are 
supposed  to  imply  the  use  of  alcoholic  wine.  The  remarks  of 
Professor  Moses  Stuart  upon  this  passage  furnish  a  good  reply  : 

'  Is  there  not  a  sanction  here  of  drinking  ordinary  wine  ?  Far  from  it.  It 
is  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt  that  orthodox  Judaism  has  ever  and  always 
rejected  alcoholic  or  fermented  wine  at  sacred  feasts.  Even  now,  as  I  have 
abundantly  satisfied  myself  by  investigation,  the  Passover  is  celebrated  with 
wine  newly  made  from  raisins,  where  unfermented  wine  cannot  be  had. 
This  would  seem  to  explain  that  difficult  passage  in  Matt.  xxvi.  29 :  "I  will 
not  drink  of  this  fruit  of  the  vine  until  that  day  when  I  drink  it  new  with  you 
in  my  Father's  kingdom."  "  New"  alludes  to  the  wine  then  employed  on 
that  occasion.  The  meaning  seems  plainly  to  be  this :  "  I  shall  no  more 
celebrate  with  you  a  holy  communion  service  on  earth ;  in  heaven  we  shall 
meet  again  around  our  Father's  table,  and  there  we  will  keep  a  feast  with 
wine  appropriate  to  the  occasion — that  is,  new  wine."  Of  course,  we  are  to 
understand  the  language  in  a  spiritual,  and  not  in  a  literal,  sense.  But  the 


I78      WINE  USED  BY  THE  LORD  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  IN 

imagery  is  borrowed  from  the  wine  then  before  them.  Scarcely  a  greater 
mistake  can  be  made  than  to  rest  the  use  of  alcoholic  wine  at  the  sacra- 
mental table  on  the  example  of  our  Saviour  and  His  disciples.' 

"It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,"  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samson, 
speaking  of  the  early  temperance  investigators  of  the  wine  ques- 
tion, "  that  such  a  flood  of  light  dawned  on  the  earnest  and  labor- 
ious reformers  who  penetrated  more  or  less  into  this  history  of 
facts.  All  the  translators,  Roman  and  Protestant,  Italian,  Spanish, 
French,  German  and  English,  saw  in  the  tirosh  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, the  Grecian  gleukos  and  the  Roman  mustum.  Castell, 
with  the  whole  range  of 'Syriac  and  Arabic  translations,  of  the 
Rabbinic  Targums  and  Tulmud,  before  him,  not  only  rendered 
tirosh  must,  but  he  argued  that  the  translation  of  the  Hebrew 
cheleb  (Num.  xviii.  12)  by  aparche  in  the  Greek,  was  intended 
to  present  the  idea  of  Herodotus  (iii.  24),  and  of  Xenophon 
(Hier.  iv.  2),  which  prevailed  alike  among  the  early  Ethiopians 
of  Central  Africa,  and  of  primitive  Asiatics  ;  their  offerings  were 
FRESH,  that  they  might  be  untainted  with  decay.  Language  could 
not  have  been  constructed  more  definitely  to  represent  the  pro- 
duct of  the  vine  acceptable  in  religious  offerings  than  that  used 
by  Moses  when  he  added  a  prefix  to  the  unfermented  grape  juice 
offered  to  the  Lord  ;  requiring  that  it  be  'the  fresh  of  tirosh?  It 
was  natural  that  this  expression,  rendered  in  English  by  'best  of 
the  wine,'  should  recall  to  Castell  and  Cocceius  the  nature  of  'the 
best'  wine  made  by  Christ,  and,  therefore,  drunk  by  Him ;  and 
that  it  should  have  prevented  such  men  from  introducing,  from 
the  spirit  of  '  custom,'  any  perversion  of  the  requirements  of 
Christ  as  to  the  Supper,  imagining  that  'inebriating  wines'  should 
take  the  place  of  His  own  twice  repeated  description,  '  the  fruit 
of  the  vine.'  When  attained,  unfermented  wine  at  the  Supper 
will  certainly  be  the  first  appointed  by  Christ." — Divine  Law  as 
to  Wines. 

In  concluding  his  essay  on  "Communion  Wine,"  the  Rev.  W. 
M.  Thayer  says  :  "We  ask  the  reader  to  compare  the  evidence 
upon  which  we  rest  our  view  of  the  Temperance  Cause  with  that 
on  which  the  cause  of  liberty  rests.  Is  the  proof  that  the 


THE  ORIGINAL  INSTITUTION  OF  THE  SACRAMENT.     179 

Bible  denounces  American  slavery  more  direct  and  explicit 
than  the  proof  that  it  denounces  American  drinking  customs? 
Does  not  the  Bible  support  slavery  as  clearly  as  it  does  the  use 
of  inebriating  beverages  ?  And  more,  do  we  not  discard  certain 
customs  and  habits  as  si?iful  on  less  evidence  than  we  ask  men 
to  discard  intoxicating  wine  ?  Do  we  not  accept  many  theolo- 
gical tenets  as  scriptural,  on  less  evidence  than  we  adduce  for 
Total  Abstinence  Communion  Wine  ?  Let  reason  and  conscience 
answer.  Especially  let  the  Church  be  true.  No  virtue  will  rise 
higher  in  the  world  than  it  is  in  the  Church.  If  there  be  a  place 
of  safety  on  this  subject,  let  the  Church  occupy  it.  '  Lead  us  not 
into  temptation '  is  the  prayer ;  let  God's  people  live  as  they 
pray.  Tempt  no  man  with  the  intoxicating  cup,  at  any  time,  or 
in  any  place.  Let  the  standard  be  as  high  at  the  Lord's  table  as 
it  is  at  man's  table.  A  vicious  thing  in  a  holy  place  is  out  of 
place.  The  Church  is  bound  to  set  a  pure  and  safe  example  on 
temperance  as  really  as  on  religion.  '  Abstain  from  all  appear- 
ance of  evil]  binds  us  not  to  drink  beverages  that  may  entice 
others  to  ruin.  '  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself  sug- 
gests that  it  is  not  a  loving  act  to  set  the  dangerous  example  of 
drinking  intoxicating  liquors  to  our  neighbor,  or  his  children. 
1  Do  thyself  no  harm?  Abstinence  is  the  only  sure  way  to  pre- 
vent harm  to  one's  self.  '  Watch  and  pray,  that  ye  enter  not  into 
temptation?  There  is  no  more  emphatic  way  of  disregarding 
this  lesson,  than  by  tampering  with  the  intoxicating  cup.  So, 
also,  the  exhortations  to  '  lay  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice  on  thg 
altar  of  God'  to  ' crucify  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,'  and  many  others, 
are  wholly  inconsistent  with  defiling  the  body  by  using  that  which 
inflames  the  passions  (Isa.  xxii.  13),  excites  to  violence  (Prov. 
xxiii.  29),  and  overcomes  and  demoralizes  many  who  drink  it  " 
(Isa.  xxviii.  i  ;  Prov.  xx.  i  ;  Isa.  xxviii.  7). 

Professor  Stuart  says :  "  I  cannot  doubt  that  chamets,  in  its 
widest  sense,  was  excluded  from  the  Jewish  Passover,  when  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  first  instituted ;  for  I  am  not  able  to  find 
evidence  to  make  me  doubt  that  the  custom  among  the  Jews  of 
excluding  fermented  wine,  as  well  as  fermented  bread,  is  older 


i8o       WINE  USED  BY  THE  LORD  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  IN 

than  the  Christian  era.  That  this  custom  is  very  ancient ;  that 
it  is  now  almost  universal ;  and  that  it  has  been  so  for  some  time 
whereof  the  memory  of  man  runneth  not  to  the  contrary,  I  take 
to  be  facts  that  cannot  fairly  be  "controverted." 

While  the  societies  of  the  New  Church,  with  but  a  very  few 
worthy  exceptions  in  this  country,  are  using  intoxicating  wine, 
which  Swedenborg  compares  to  falses  from  evil,  as  communion 
wine,  and  our  Associations  and  Convention  have  not  a  word  to  say 
against  its  use  as  a  beverage  ;  and  too  many  of  our  clergymen  are 
justifying  such  use  ;  and  some  of  them  advocating  the  drinking  of 
whisky  even  ;  how  stands  the  religious  world  around  us  upon  this 
great  practical  question  of  life  ?  Many  of  the  most  celebrated 
scholars  of  the  various  Christian  Churches,  without  a  knowledge 
of  the  revelations  which  we  enjoy,  seeing  the  devastation  and 
ruin  which  was  being  wrought  upon  their  fellow-men,  by  the 
drinking  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and  finding  that  their  use  was 
justified  and  encouraged  by  the  use  of  fermented  wine  at  the 
Holy  Supper,  have  devoted  years  to  a  patient  examination  of 
this  subject  in  the  light  of  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  ancient  history, 
and  modern  science. 

Rev.  Dr.  Samson,  speaking  of  the  early  labors  of  such  men, 
says : 

"  Among  educators,  such  men  as  Professor  Wayland  of  Brown 
University,  and  Professor  Tayler  Lewis,  led  the  way  to  a  new 
position.  Dr.  Wayland,  eminently  conscientious  and  practical  as 
a  teacher  of  Moral  Science,  when  told  by  Christian  gentlemen 
whom  he  esteemed,  that  his  example  in  providing  wine-sangaree 
at  his  annual  receptions  was  misleading,  and  betraying  to  their 
ruin,  young  men  in  fashionable  society,  Dr.  Wayland  promptly 
said ;  '  If  my  wine  makes  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  have  no 
more  of  it.'  Professor  Lewis,  scholarly  and  logical,  reversed  his 
opinions  and  practice,  when  he  perceived,  as  he  himself  states  it, 
that 'on  the  subject  of  temperance  there  has  been  committed 
the  same  error  of  interpretation  that  for  so  long  a  time  confused 
the  slavery  question.'  " 


THE  ORIGINAL  INSTITUTION  OF  THE  SACRAMENT.       181 

"To  these  testimonies  was  soon  added  that  of  Professor 
George  Bush,  who,  when  first  appealed  to,  quoted  Old  and  New 
Testament  declarations  to  sustain  the  custom  of  using  wines  in 
fashionable  society  and  in  Christian  rites ;  but  who,  when  asked, 
resolved  to  examine  the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures, 
and  then,  after  examination,  confessed  the  error  into  which 
neglect  of  thorough  investigation  had  led  him,  and  declared  to 
the  advocates  of  total  abstinence  :  '  You  have  the  whole  ground  ; 
and  in  time  the  whole  Christian  world  will  be  obliged  to  adopt 
your  views.'" 

We  have  in  the  preceding  pages  called  the  attention  of  our 
readers  to  several  works  written  by  late  writers,  with  many  quota- 
tions, and  now  we  will  see  what  the  surrounding  Church  organi- 
zations are  doing  in  this  most  worthy  cause. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  at  its 
annual  meeting  at  Madison,  Wis.,  unamimously  adopted  the  fol- 
lowing declaration : 

"The  General  Assembly,  viewing  with  grave  apprehension  the  persist- 
ence and  spread  of  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  among  the  greatest,  if 
not  the  greatest,  evil  of  our  day,  as  a  curse  resting  upon  every  nation  of 
Christendom,  as  multiplying  their  burdens  of  taxation,  pauperism,  and 
crime,  as  undermining  their  material  prosperity,  as  a  powerful  hindrance  to 
the  Gospel  at  home,  and  as  still  more  deeply  degrading  the  heathen  whom 
we  seek  to  evangelize  abroad,  would  rejoice  at  the  revival  in  recent  years 
of  efforts  to  stay  these  great  evils,  and  would  renew  its  testimony,  begun  as 
early  as  1812  (and  continued  to  the  present  day),  'not  only  against  actual 
intemperance,  but  against  all  those  habits  and  indulgences  which  may  have 
a  tendency  to  produce  it.'  " 

The  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist-Episcopal  Church, 
held  in  Cincinnati  in  May  last,  adopted  a  report  on  temperance 
containing  the  following  passages — or  recommendation  of  changes 
in  the  Discipline  : 

"2.  That  section  6  of  paragraph  175  be  amended  so  that  it  shall  read  as 
follows:  'To  hold  quarterly  meetings  in  the  absence  of  the  presiding  elder, 
and  to  sec  that  the  stewards  provide  unfermented  wine  for  use  in  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper,  if  practicable.' 


1 82      WINE  USED  BY  THE  LORD  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  IN 

"  3.  That  the  sentence  in  brackets,  immediately  preceding  paragraph  484 
of  the  Discipline,  be  so  changed  as  to  read  as  follows :  '  Let  none  but  the 
pure  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape  be  used  in  administering  the  Lord's 
Supper.' 

"  4.  We  also  recommend  that  the  following  be  inserted  in  the  Discipline 
as  a  separate  chapter,  expressive  of  the  general  sentiment  of  the  Church  on 
the  temperance  question : 

'TEMPERANCE. 

*  Temperance,  in  its  broader  meaning,  is  distinctively  a  Christian  virtue, 
scripturally  enjoined.  It  implies  a  subordination  of  all  the  emotions,  pas- 
sions, and  appetites  to  the  control  of  reason  and  conscience.  Dietetically  it 
means  a  wise  use  of  useful  articles  of  food  and*drink,  with  entire  abstinence 
from  such  as  are  known  to  be  hurtful.  Both  science  and  human  experience 
unite  with  Holy  Scripture  in  condemning  all  alcoholic  beverages  as  being 
neither  useful  nor  safe.  The  business  of  manufacturing  and  vending  such 
liquors  is  also  against  the  principles  of  morality,  political  economy,  and  the 
public  welfare.'" 

The  Centennial  Conference  of  Free-Will  Baptists,  recently  in 
session  at  Weirs,  New  Hampshire,  adopted  the  following  pream- 
ble and  resolutions  : 

"  Whereas,  After  all  the  moral  and  legal  temperance  victories  of  the  past, 
intemperance  still  remains  the  greatest  evil  of  the  age;  therefore,  resolved: 

"  i.  That  while  we  thank  God  for  the  victories  already  gained,  we  would 
in  this  centennial  year  of  our  denomination  reaffirm  with  increased  em- 
phasis our  uncompromising  hostility  to  the  intoxicating  cup,  and  pledge 
ourselves  anew  to  the  use  of  all  moral  and  prohibitory  means  for  the  utter 
suppression  of  the  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating  liquors. 

"  2.  That  we  have  no  fellowship  with  those  Church  members  who,  in  the 
light  of  the  nineteenth  century,  use  as  a  beverage  intoxicating  drinks,  in- 
cluding ale,  lager-beer,  wine  or  cider. 

"  8.  That  fermented  wine  should  not  be  used  in  the  communion  service, 
and  the  Church  or  minister  who  uses  it  deserves  censure. 

"  9.  That  the  use  of  tobacco  is  an  unclean  and  unnatural  habit,  and 
should  be  indulged  in  by  neither  ministers  nor  members  of  the  Christian 
Church." 

Surely  the  life  and  light  of  the  New  Jerusalem  are  permeating 
the  Churches  around  us.  The  paragraph  ab.ove,  headed  "Tem- 
perance," could  have  no  origin  but  from  the  Lord.  He  reforms 
and  regenerates  the  human  race  through  the  angels  of  the  New 


THE  ORIGINAL  INSTITUTION  OF  THE  SACRAMENT.     183 

Heavens  ;  and  He  effects  this  divine  work  in  the  natural  world,  as 
far  as  it  can  be  effected,  through  men  of  all  religions,  and  all 
other  instruments  which  the  Divine  Love  by  Divine  Wisdom  can 
marshal  into  the  reconstructive  work  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
dispensation.  Let  us  remember  that  the  doers  of  the  truth 
alone  have  the  promise  that  they  shall  see  the  truth.  The  man 
who  uses  either  intoxicating  drinks  or  tobacco,  and  the  woman 
who  wears  tight  dresses,  are  doing  all  they  can  to  close  their  eyes 
and  ears  and  understanding  against  the  truth.  Their  depraved 
habits  produce  a  corresponding  and  constantly  increasing  depra- 
vation of  their  physical  and  nervous  systems;  so  that  though 
those  habits  are  sowing  within  them  the  seeds  of  disease  and 
death,  they  are  unable  to  perceive  the  injury  that  is  being  done 
them  unless  they  will  heed  the  Word  of  the  Lord  or  the  testi- 
mony of  others.  For  that  consciousness  they  must  go  outside  of 
themselves,  because  these  evils,  like  all  spiritual  evils  to  which 
they  correspond,  palliate  the  suffering  which  they  cause,  and 
fasten  their  chains  tighter  on  their  victims,  actually  making  them 
feel  better  every  time  they  indulge.  Although  it  is  through  the 
understanding  that  man  must  be  enlightened,  yet  there  must  be  a 
willingness  to  obey,  or  "having  eyes  he  will  see  not"  and  will  not 
be  convinced,  however  clear  the  light  or  truth. 

"God  speed  the  time,"  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Herrick  Johnson, 
"when  Scriptural  arguments  in  behalf  of  wine-drinking  shall  be 
buried  in  a  grave  as  deep  as  that  where  now  lie  the  arguments 
by  which  the  Word  of  God  was  once  marshalled  to  the  support 
of  slavery  !  God  speed  the  time  when  alcoholic  wines  and 
strong  drinks  shall  be  swept  from  every  Christian  sideboard,  and 
table,  and  social  feast." 

"A  few  years  since  an  English  clergyman,"  says  the  Rev. 
William  M.  Thayer,  "  who  had  been  intemperate,  reformed.  At 
a  public  meeting  in  Manchester,  he  said,  confessing  his  guilt, 
'My  greatest  sin  is  not  found  where  I  brought  the  most  disgrace 
upon  my  Master's  cause  in  the  public  view ;  my  greatest  .sin,  in 
the  sight  of  God,  was  when  I  entered  upon  the  course  which  led 
to  drunkenness.'  Was  he  not  right?  The  intemperate  man  has 


1 84      WINE  USED  BY  THE  LORD  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  IN 

incurred  guilt  somewhere.  Was  it  when  he  first  staggered  under 
the  influence  of  strong  drink  ?  Nay,  it  was  before  that.  Was  it 
when  he  had  been  a  moderate  drinker  one  year,  two' years,  or 
more  ?  Was  it  when  he  drank  his  tenth,  hundredth,  or  five  hun- 
dredth glass  ?  Was  it  not  rather  when  he  quaffed  the  first  glass 
which  lured  him  to  all  that  followed  ?  '  It  is  the  first  step  that 
ruins.'  *  Enter  not  into  the  path  of  the  wicked'  (Prov.  iv.  14). 
'Watch  and  pray,  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation'  (Matt.  xxvi. 
41).  The  divine  prohibtion  is  laid  upon  the  first  step  to  ruin." 

The  danger  is  always  with  the  first  glass  ;  the  reformed  inebriate 
who  is  looking  to  the  Lord  and  striving  to  shun  this  evil  realizes 
this.  "Hence,"  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samson,  "reformed  inebriates, 
with  one  voice,  have  asked  for  an  unintoxicating  wine  at  the 
Lord's  Supper ;  and,  when  this  provision  has  been  thought  im- 
possible, they  have  conscientiously  abstained  often  from  partak- 
ing of  the  cup." 

"It  is  plain,"  says  the  Rev.  W.  M.  Thayer,  "that the  prohibi- 
tion of  drunkenness  prohibits  all  indulgence  which  leads  to 
drunkenness :  as  Dr.  Duff  says,  '  In  condemning  murder,  the 
Bible  of  necessity  condemns  the  use  of  any  and  -  all  of  those 
means  which  naturally  and  inevitably  lead  to  it.'  Reference 
may  be  made  to  the  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape,  and  the 
word  much  used  to  guard  them  against  over-indulgence,  since 
Pliny,  Columella,  and  others  say  with  Dr.  Rule,  that  many 
Romans  were  so  fond  of  it  that '  they  would  fill  their  stomachs 
with  it,  then  throw  it  off  by  emetics,  and  repeat  the  draught.' 
Thus  it  was  with  ' honey.'  'Hast  thou  found  honey'?  asks  Solo- 
mon ;  '  eat  so  much  as  is  sufficient  for  thee,  lest  thou  be  filled 
therewith  and  vomit  it '  ( Prov.  xxv.  1 6 ) .  Bible  temperance  is 
'moderation'  in  the  use  of  good  things,  and  abstinence  from 
injurious  things." 

Since  the  above  was  in  type,  we  have  selected  the  following 
extracts  from  the  report  of  a  lecture  and  remarks  in  the  Glasgow 
(Scotland)  League  Journal : 

At  a  select  meeting,  which  comprised  many  clergymen  and 
physicians,  Dr.  B.  W.  Richardson,  speaking  on  the  subject  of 


THE  ORIGINAL  INSTITUTION  OF  THE  SACRAMENT.     185 

unfermented  wines  for  sacramental  purposes,  said, — "  I  think  I 
might  say  in  reference  to  Dr.  Kerr's  remarks  about  the  constitu- 
tion of  these  wines,  that  if  there  is  anything  in  what  you  may  call 
similitude  and  in  pure  symbolism,  as  represented  in  the  use  of 
wine  on  the  solemn  occasion  to  which  he  refers,  all  the  question 
of  similitude  turns  toward  a  wine  that  is  expressed  simply  from 
the  grape.  I  think  there  is  a  passage  in  the  service  which  says  : 
'This  is  My  blood.'  Now,  if  you  take  that  at  all  as  meaning 
anything  symbolic,  then  you  have  a  common-sense  view  in  the 
similitude  which  does  really  exist  between  the  expressed  juice  of 
the  wine  and  His  blood.  That  is  strictly  true.  If  you  look  at 
this  table  on  the  wall  showing  the  compositions  of  the  two  kinds 
of  wine,  the  one  fermented,  the  other  unfermented,  you  will  see 
that  the  constituent  parts  actually  of  blood  and  of  the  expressed 
wine  are  strictly  analogous.  One  of  the  most  important  elements 
of  the  blood,  that  which  keeps  it  together,  that  which  Plato  speaks 
of  as  'the  plastic  part  of  the  blood,'  is  the  fibrine,  and  that  is 
represented  in  the  gluten  of  the  unfermented  wine.  If  we  come 
to  the  nourishing  part  of  the  blood,  that  which  we  call  the  mother 
of  the  tissues,  we  find  it  in  the  unfermented  grape,  in  the  albu- 
men, and  that  is  also  present  in  the  blood ;  and  if  we  come  to  all 
the  salts,  there  they  are  in  the  blood,  and  the  proportion  is  nearly 
the  same  in  the  unfermented  wine  as  in  the  bloed ;  and  if  we 
come  to  the  parts  of  the  wine  which  go  to  support  the  respiration 
of  the  body,  we  find  them  in  the  sugar.  Really  and  truly  on  a 
question  of  symbolism,  if  there  be  anything  at  all  in  that,  the 
argument  is  all  in  favor  of  the  use  of  unfermented  wine.  But, 
again,  I  would  put  it  in  this  way  in  support  of  Dr.  Kerr.  Pre- 
suming that  you  want  the  real  thing  that  was  fermented  for  your 
purposes,  I  should  say  scientifically  that  you  could  not  go  to  that 
thing  in  its  purest  form.  If  you  really  do  want  to  put  a  fermented 
substance  forward,  then  you  should  put  it  forward  in  all  its  purity. 
The  logical  argument  would  be  not  to  take  an  irregular  substance 
which  is  called  wine,  and  which  may  contain  half-a-dozen  things 
that  are  altogether  apart  from  the  real  thing,  but  the  point  would 
be  to  take  an  actually  pure,  simple,  fermented  substance  alto- 


1 86    HOW  SHALL  WE  PREPARE  OUR  COMMUNION  WINE? 

gather,  free  from  everything  except  the  fermented  substance,  the 
completed  .process  and  water.  Yet,  I  suppose,  if  anything  of  that 
kind  were  put  forward  in  the  Church,  it  would  be  rebelled  at  uni- 
versally. No  one  would  think  of  doing  it.  Yet  that  is  what 
should  be  done  logically  if  this  is  to  be  the  thing.  You  either 
want  a  fermented  or  unfermented  agent.  If  it  be  decided  that  a 
fermented  agent  is  wanted,  take  it  in  all  its  purity ;  if  an  unfer- 
mented agent,  take  that  which  is  the  natural,  simple  expression  of 
the  juice  of  the  grape — the  rich  wine." 

Dr.  Norman  Kerr  said, — "That  at  all  periods  in  the  history  of 
the  Christian  Church,  in  necessity  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape 
had  been  held  to  be  wine  for  the  purpose  of  the  sacrament. 
Witnesses  were  cited  in  the  original  from  the  second,  fourth, 
seventh,  ninth,  thirteenth,  seventeenth,  eighteenth,  and  nineteenth 
centuries.  Unfermented,  unintoxicating  wine  was,  at  the  present 
day,  recognized  as  a  lawful  element  of  communion  by  the 
Methodist  -  Episcopal,  and  other  bodies  in  America ;  by  the 
Established  Church  of  Scotland,  by  a  large  number  of  Noncon- 
forming  congregations  throughout  the  kingdom,  by  a  considerable 
array  of  Established  Churches  and  their  mission  charges  in 
England,  and  by  the  annual  Mildmay  Conference.  One  bishop 
had  sanctioned  its  use,  while  several  bishops  had  communicated 
in  it  and  had  fnade  no  sign" 

HOW   SHALL   WE    PREPARE   OUR   COMMUNION   WINE? 

This  is  a  practical  question,  and  especially  so  at  this  day,  when 
no  one  who  purchases  either  unfermented  or  fermented  wine, 
unless  he  knows  by  whom  it  has  been  made  and  has  confidence 
in  the  maker,  can  have  any  assurance  that  he  is  getting  an  un- 
adulterated article.  The  blood  of  the  grape,  which  flows  spon- 
taneously when  the  grape  is  punctured  or  crushed,  Swedenborg 
informs  us,  as  we  have  seen,  has  a  higher  or  more  celestial  sig- 
nification than  wine  which  is  produced  by  pressure,  and  for  this 
reason  was  not  selected  when  the  Lord  instituted  this  ordinance  ; 
and,  if  it  is  ever  to  become  appropriate  in  the  New  Church,  we 
think  our  readers  will  conclude  with  the  writer,  that  the  time  will 


HOW  SHALL  WE  PREPARE  OUR  COMMUNION  WINE?     187 

not  be  during  our  generation,  nor  perhaps  for  many  generations 
to  come. 

"  In  remote  antiquity,  grapes  were  brought  to  the  table,  and 
the  juice  there  expressed  for  immediate  use." — Nott  (London 
ed.  p.  58). 

"  Plutarch  affirms  that  before  the  time  of  Psammetichus,  who 
lived  six  hundred  years  before  Christ,  the  Egyptians  neither 
drank  fermented  wine  nor  offered  it  in  sacrifice." — Nott  (Third 
Lecture ) . 

"Josephus's  version  of  the  butler's  speech  is  as  follows  :  He 
said  '  that  by  the  king's  permission  he  pressed  the  grapes  into  a 
goblet,  and,  having  strained  the  sweet  wine,  he  gave  it  to  the 
king  to  drink,  and  that  he  received  it  graciously.'  Josephus  here 
uses  gleukos  to  designate  the  expressed  juice  of  the  grape  before 
fermentation  could  possibly  commence." — Bible  Commentary 
(p.  i 8). 

Bishop  Lowth,  of  England,  in  his  "Commentary  on  Isaiah,"  in 
1778,  remarking  upon  Isa.  v.  2,  refers  to  the  case  of  Pharaoh's 
butler,  and  says  :  "  By  which  it  would  seem  that  the  Egyptians 
drank  only  the  fresh  juice  pressed  from  the  grapes,  which  was 
called  oinos  ampilinos— that  is,  wine  of  the  vineyards." 

Rev.  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  on  Gen.  xl.  n,  says  :  "From  this  we 
find  that  the  wine  anciently  was  the  mere  expressed  juice  of 
the  grape  without  fermentation.  The  saky,  or  cup-bearer,  took 
the  bunch,  pressed  the  juice  into  the  cup,  and  instantly  delivered 
it  into  the  hands  of  his  master.  This  was  anciently  the  yayin 
[wine]  of  the  Hebrews,  the  oinos  [wine]  of  the  Greeks,  and 
the  mustum  [new  fresh  wine]  of  the  ancient  Latins."  Bagster's 
"Comprehensive  Bible"  quotes  Dr.  Clarke  with  approbation. 

"  It  appears  that  the  Mohammedans  of  Arabia  press  the  juice 
of  the  grape  into  a  cup,  and  drink  it  as  Pharaoh  did."— Nott 
(London  ed.  p.  59). 

"  A  singular  proof  of  the  ancient  usage  of  squeezing  the  juice 
of  grapes  into  a  cup  has  been  exhumed  at  Pompeii.  It  is  that 
of  Bacchus  standing  by  a  pedestal,  and  holding  in  both  hands  a 


1 88     HOW  SHALL  WE  PREPARE  OUR  COMMUNION  WINE? 

large  cluster  of  grapes,  and  squeezing  the  juice  into  a  cup." 
Bible  Wines. 


PRIMITIVE  WINE   PRESS. 


"  Professor  Tishcendorf  has  given  us  a  learned  edition  of  the 
Apochryphal  '  Acts  and  Matthew,'  a  work  which  was  in  circula- 
tion in  the  second  and  third  centuries ;  and  in  it  we  read : 
1  Bring  ye,  as  an  offering,  holy  bread,  and  having  pressed  out 
into  a  cup  three  clusters  from  the  vine  be  communicants  with 
me.'  "— Rev.  Joseph  Cook. 


HOW  SHALL  WE  PREPARE  OUR  COMMUNION  WINE?     189 

Beyond  all  question,  if  we  accept  the  Word  of  the  Lord  as 
authority,  and  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer  beyond  the  possi- 
bility of  a  doubt,  if  we  accept  Swedenborg  as  an  authority 
on  this  subject,  the  recently  expressed  juice  of  the  grape,  used 
before  fermentation  has  commenced,  is  appropriate  for  use  in  the 
Holy  Supper.  Except  when  kept  below  the  temperature  of 
50°  it  should  not  be  pressed  from  the  grape  earlier  than  the 
night  before  the  day  on  which  it  is  to  be  used,  and  then  it  should 
be  bottled  and  carefully  corked.  It  may  be  prepared  by  press- 
ing the  grapes  directly  by  the  hands,  as  we  have  seen  was  often 
done  by  the  ancients,  or  by  any  other  method. 

This  recently  expressed  must,  or  new  wine,  is  certainly  appro- 
priate, as  Swedenborg  tells  us  that  must  has  the  same  significa- 
tion as  wine,  namely  :  "  Truth  derived  from  the  good  of  charity 
and  love"  (A.  E.  695)  ;  and  that  "new  wine  is  the  divine  truth 
of  the  New  Testament — consequently,  of  the  New  Church;  and 
old  wine  is  the  divine  truth  of  the  Old  Testament,  consequently 
of  the  Old  Church."  (A.  R.  316.) 

By  must,  we  know,  he  does  not  mean  must  during  the  process 
of  fermentation,  but  that  he  does  mean  the  recently  expressed 
juice  of  the  grape  before  fermentation  has  commenced,  whereas 
fermented  wine  which  has  been  so  generally  used  he  compares 
to  falses  from  evil,  as  we  have  seen. 

There  are  seasons  of  the  year  when  fresh  grapes  can  be  had 
about  as  readily  as  wine  ;  and  if  grapes  grown  in  a  warm  climate 
can  be  had,  we  have  a  sweet  wine,  very  pleasant  to  drink  ;  but  let 
them  be  grown  where  they  will,  we  shall  have  a  wine  more  palata- 
ble to  the  unperverted  taste  than  the  "stuff"  which  is  sold  as  fer- 
mented wine. 

In  this  unfermented  wine  we  have  a  fluid  which  can  justly  be 
termed  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  and  which  is  not  produced  by 
leaven,  like  the  essential  ingredients  in  fermented  wine. 

The  objection  was  made  to  the  writer  by  a  respected  clerical 
brother  that  wine,  either  recently  pressed  from  the  grapes,  or 
bottled  unfermented  wine,  if  exposed  to  the  air,  would  not  keep  ; 
and  if  a  part  of  a  bottle  were  used,  the  rest  would  spoil  before 


19°     HOW  SHALL  WE  PREPARE  OUR  COMMUNION  WINE? 

an  occasion  again  occurred  for  using  it ;  and  he  seemed  to  think 
it  was  an  indication  that  it  was  not  suitable  for  this  purpose.  In 
reply,  we  reminded  him  of  the  fact  that  if  special  pains  were  not 
taken  to  deprive  the  bread,  which  he  uses  for  this  purpose,  of  its 
moisture,  it  would  spoil,  or  become  mouldy  and  sour ;  and  that 
the  meats,  fruits,  and  vegetables  from  which  he  daily  eats  would 
spoil  on  keeping,  many  of  them  in  a  very  short  time.  Again,  we 
called  his  attention  to  another  important  fact,  namely,  that  the 
use  of  mouldy  and  sour  bread,  tainted  meats,  and  decaying  vege- 
tables, however  objectionable  such  use  might  be,  and  the  writer 
would  be  the  last  man  to  advocate  their  use,  would  be  far  less  ob- 
jectionable than  the  use  of  fermented  wine  ;  for  they  would  not 
impair  to  so  great  an  extent  his  freedom  and  reason,  and  would 
never  make  him  drunk,  either  naturally  or  spiritually :  whereas, 
the  use  of  fermented  wine  causes  insanity  and  natural  drunken- 
ness, and  affords  a  plane  of  influx  for  evil  spirits  which  tend  to 
infatuate  and  render  men  insane  in  regard  to  spiritual  things. 

When  it  is  desirable  to  preserve  wine  for  future  use,  we  think 
that,  beyond  question,  the  most  suitable  method  is  by  boiling  it 
down  frorrT  one-third  to  two-thirds,  skimming  it  carefully ;  and, 
then,  while  hot,  putting  it  into  bottles,  or  into  glass  fruit-cans, 
and  sealing  it  up  as  fruit  is  canned.  Thus  preserved,  when  wanted 
for  use,  it  can  be  readily  reduced  in  water  to  the  desired  thin- 
ness. If  we  wish  to  make  a  wine  from  northern  sour  grapes  simi- 
lar to  the  wines  of  Palestine,  or  a  sweet  and  palatable  wine,  it  is 
necessary  to  add  sugar.  The  Lord  called  the  contents  of  the  cup 
the  fruit  of  the  vine  ;  and  we  know  of  no  method  by  which  the 
fruit  of  the  vine,  or  the  entire  juice  which  can  be  pressed  from  the 
the  grape,  can  be  preserved  in  its  integrity  except  by  boiling.  It 
loses  nothing  but  the  water,  which  can  be  readily  restored,  as  water 
is  always  the  same  when  pure.  There  is  no  useful  organic  sub- 
stance removed,  and  it  is  not,  like  fermented  wine,  contaminated 
by  any  heterogeneous  substance  even  if  sugar  is  added.  It  is 
therefore,  pure  and  contains  the  entire  substance  of  the  fruit  of 
the  vine,  excepting  the  seeds,  skins,  and  cellular  and  fibrous  por- 
tions of  the  grapes.  The  boiled  wine  improves  by  age. 


HOW  SHALL  WE  PREPARE  OUR  COMMUNION  WINE?     191 

"  Archbishop  Potter,  who  lived  about  two  centuries  ago,  wrote 
in  his  '  Grecian  Antiquities' :  '  The  Lacedaemonians  used  to  boil 
their  wines  upon  the  fire  until  the  fifth  part  was  consumed  :  then 
after  four  years  were  expired,  began  to  drink  them.'  He  refers 
to  Democritus,  a  celebrated  philosopher,  who  travelled  over  the 
greater  part  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  and  who  died  361  B.  c. ; 
also  to  Palladius,  a  Greek  physician,  as  making  a  similar  state- 
ment. 'Some  of  the  celebrated  Opimian  wine  mentioned  by 
Pliny  had,  in  his  day,  two  centuries  after  its  production,  the  con- 
sistence of  honey." — Wines  of  the  Bible. 

Where  grapes  are  grown  or  can  be  had,  every  religious  so- 
ciety, or  every  clergyman  if  he  pleases,  can  prepare  wine  by  this 
simple  and  cheap  process,  and  always  be  sure  of  having  a  pure 
article  at  all  seasons,  and  one  which  can  justly  be  called  the  fruit  of 
the  vine,  for  in  this  process  the  gluten  is  preserved.  In  the  other 
processes  which  we  have  described,  namely,  that  of  filtering  re- 
peatedly, and  that  of  keeping  cool  and  settling,  the  gluten  is 
removed  ;  therefore  the  wine  thus  preserved  is  not  as  perfectly  the 
fruit  of  the  vine  as  is  the  boiled  wine ;  although  such  wine  is  un- 
objectionable as  a  drink,  and  is  many  times  nearer  the  fruit  of 
the  vine  than  fermented  wine  :  still  the  writer  would  give  the 
preference  to  boiled  wine  when  it  can  be  obtained.  Then, 
beside,  boiling  has  a  good  signification.  (A.  C.  8496,  10,105.) 

As  to  wines  which  are  preserved  by  the  addition  of  foreign 
substances,  with  perhaps  the  exception  of  sugar,  which  are  capa- 
ble of  preventing  or  arresting  fermentation,  such  -as  sulphur,  the 
fumes  of  sulphur,  salicylic  acid,  mustard,  etc.,  we  think  they  are 
all  out  of  the  question  for  sacramental  purposes,  although  not  as 
objectionable  as  fermented  wine.  Where  the  fumes  of  burning 
sulphur  are  simply  used  to  destroy  the  germs  of  ferment  in  the 
cask  before  it  is  filled,  and  in  the  atmosphere  between  the  bung 
and  wine  after  the  cask  is  filled,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  no 
great  injury  to  the  wine  can  result. 

Rev.  Joseph  Cook,  of  Boston,  in  a  sermon  delivered  while  in 
England,  says  in  regard  to  unfermented  wine  :  "  Your  own  Dr. 
Norman  Kerr  tells  you  that  he  drinks  unfermented  wine  brought 


192     HOW  SHALL  WE  PREPARE  OUR  COMMUNION  WINE? 

from  the  East.  I  know  where  in  London  to  buy  that  kind  of 
wine.  What  is  more,  I  know  from  some  observation  in  the 
East  and  from  reading  testimonies  from  there  that  many  Syrian 
Churches  to-day  use  that  kind  of  wine  in  their  religious  feasts. 
I  have  witnessed  in  London  the  processes  by  which  unfermented 
wine  is  manufactured  for  the  fifteen  hundred  congregations  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  which  now  use  only  such  wine  in  their 
administration  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The 
manufacturing  chemist  cited  Columella's  and  Pliny's  receipts  for 
preventing  fermentation,  and  assured  me  that  he  could  not  improve 
them  in  point  of  efficacy.  Dr.  Kerr  has  shown  that  wine  may 
be  preserved  unfermented  by  eight  or  ten  different  methods, 
many  of  which  were  known  to  the  ancients." 

The  writer  has  called  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  most 
important  of  these  methods  in  the  chapter  on  the  Wines  of  the 
Ancients,  to  which  he  refers  him  for  further  information  on  this 
subject. 

In  regard  to  preserving  wine,  by  the  aid  of  a  stratum  of  sweet 
oil,  as  practiced  by  the  ancients  and  described  in  the  preceding 
pages,  lest  some  of  his  readers  may  be  disappointed  in  experi- 
menting in  that  direction,  the  writer  will  say  that  the  process  evi- 
dently requires  great  care  to  prevent  the  germs  of  ferment  being 
mixed  with  the  wine.  Of  three  experiments  which  the  writer  has 
made  with  a  glass  bottle  and  a  stratum  of  sweet  oil,  during  the 
the  past  season,  only  one  has  been  successful,  and  in  that  the 
wine  is  beautiful  and  clear,  with  a  moderate  amount  of  lees  in  the 
bottle.  Although  the  cork  has  been  frequently  removed,  yet 
there  has  been  no  signs  of  fermentation.  The  bottle  was  scalded 
out  before  being  filled,  and  was  immediately  filled  with  the  cold 
juice  just  as  it  was  squeezed  by  the  hands  from  the  grapes 
through  two  thicknesses  of  a  linen  strainer.  The  ancients,  it  will 
be  remembered,  oiled  their  vessels  carefully  on  the  inside  before 
filling  them  with  the  juice  of  the  grape  ;  and  a  bottle  should  be 
either  oiled  on  the  inside  or  carefully  scalded  with  boiling  water 
before  being  filled,  even  if  it  is  a  new  bottle. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

i  PROHIBITION. 

WE  know  that  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  is,  directly  or  in- 
directly, the  cause  of  more  than  one-half  of  the  crimes  committed 
and  of  the  poverty,  wretchedness,  and  insanity  which  exist  in 
the  communities  where  they  are  used ;  and  their  use  is  the  most 
prolific  of  all  of  the  causes  of  disease,  and  even  of  idiocy.  As 
to  the  mortality  which  results  from  this  cause,  we  clip  from  the 
Morning  Light  si  May  yth,  1881,  the  following  letter,  which  is  a 
fair  presentation  of  the  results  of  careful  observation  : 

THE   DEATH   RATE  AND   TOTAL  ABSTINENCE. 

DEAR  SIR, — With  reference  to  Mr.  Bingham's  speech  in  your  issue  for 
April  23d,  the  following  particulars  may  interest  your  readers  : 

At  the  end  of  1878  the  average  death  rate  in  the  General  Section  of  the 
Sceptre  Life  Office  for  the  fourteen  years  of  its  existence  had  been  8  in  the 
1,000,  in  the  Temperance  Section  4f.  The  number  of  deaths  expected  in 
the  Temperance  Section  of  the  same  office  for  the  five  years  ending  1879 
was  90,  the  actual  number  dying  being  47. 

The  number  of  deaths  expected  in  the  General  Section  of  the  Temper- 
ance Provident  Institution  for  the  years  1871-75  was  1,266,  the  actual  num- 
ber dying  being  1,330;  in  the  Temperance  Section  for  the  same  period  the 
number  expected  to  die  was  723;  only  511  died.  Referring  to  this  report, 
John  Bright  said  the  figures  "  are  most  remarkable.  There  is  no  mistake 
about  it  that  the  men  who  abstain  from  intoxicating  drinks  have  an  immense 
advantage,  both  physically  and  morally,  over  the  rest  of  the  community." 

The  report  of  this  same  office  for  the  year  1879  shows  the  same  thing. 
During  the  year  preceding  the  annual  meeting  the  number  of  deaths  ex- 
pected in  the  General  Section  was  305,  the  actual  number  dying  being  326; 
in  the  Temperance  Section  "  196  were  expected,  and  only  164  were  ob- 
stinate enough  to  die.  For  the  four  years  ending  since  the  last  division 
of  profits  the  claims  made  in  the  Temperance  Section  were  215  less,  in  the 
General  Section  2  more  than  expected. 

A  map  of  the  township  of  Toxteth  Park,  Liverpool,  shows  that  a  division 
containing  no  public-houses  and  five-twelfths  of  the  whole  population, 
(193)— 9 


194  PROHIBITION. 

rejoices  in  enough  (45)  paupers;  the  remainder  of  the  township,  with  seven 
twelfths  of  the  population  and  200  public-houses,  contains  1,453  paupers, 
*      *      *      Finally,  may  I  call  the  attention  of  your  readers  to  the  village  of 
St.  Johnsbury,  Vermont,  U.  S.  A.     The  Maine  Liquor  Law  is  enforced  there 
with  the  result  that  its  six  constables  work  in  the  scale  manufactories  except 
on  special  days,  when  they  "don  their  uniforms  to  make  a  little  show.  *   *  * 
No  loafer  hangs  about  the  kerbstones.     Not  a  beggar  can  be  seen.     No 
drunkard  reels  along  the  streets.     There  seem  to  be  no  poor.     I  have  not 
seen,  in  two  days'  wandering  up  and  down,  one  child  in  rags,  one  woman 
looking  like  a  slut." — Hepworth  Dixon,  Letters  from  America. 

The  figures  I  have  quoted  seem  conclusive,  for  we  must  recollect  that  the 
General  Sections  are  not  composed  of  drunkards,  only  moderate  drinkers 
are  admitted  to  them.  If,  then,  the  mortality  rate  amongst  total  abstainers 
is  so  superior  to  moderate  drinkers,  total  abstinence  cannot  be  otherwise  than 
better.  GEORGE  GORDON  PULSFORD. 

HAMSTEAD,  near  Birmingham,  April  18,  1881. 

The  only  argument  that  can  be  urged  to-day  against  prohibi- 
tion is  that  of  expediency.  The  time  has  passed  when  any 
intelligent  man  will  question  the  right  of  the  community  to  pro- 
tect its  members  against  such  dire  evils  as  result  from  the  use  of 
intoxicating  drinks.  Liberty  is  constantly  restrained  where  its 
exercise  may  be  used  by  any  to  his  neighbor's  detriment,  or  his 
own  injury.  A  man  cannot  build  a  dwelling-house  on  his  own 
land,  and  for  his  own  use,  until  the  proper  department  has  certified 
that  his  plans  are  safe  for  his  neighbors,  and  healthful  for  his  own 
indwelling.  A  family  living  contentedly  under  ground,  with 
insufficient  light  and  air,  are  expelled  from  their  home,  and  the 
cellar  is  closed,  regardless  of  the  complaint  of  landlord  and 
tenant.  No  other  evil  is  so  productive  of  injury  to  the  com- 
munity as  this  curse  of  alcohol ;  yet  almost  any  other  may  be 
legislated  against  if  this  is  let  alone.  We  punish  with  relentless 
severity  the  poor  drunken  wretch  who  has  violated  the  law, 
though  we  know  that  the  crime  was  committed  when  the  stupify- 
ing  and  poisonous  draught  had  deprived  him  entirely  of  that 
sense  of  right  and  wrong,  which  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of 
moral  responsibility.  We  punish  the  drunken  criminal,  not  for 
the  tippling  which  has  led  to  his  insanity  and  crime,  but  for  the 
crimes  that  he  would  never  have  committed  in  his  sober  senses ; 


PROHIBITION.  195 

and  then  we  renew  the  license  of  the  rum-seller  whose  liquor 
has  crazed  him  ;  so  that  when  his  term  of  punishment  has  expired 
he  may  again  be  subjected  to  the  same  temptation,  and  society 
again  suffer  from  his  evil-doing.  Against  every  other  danger  we 
may  protect  ourselves  without  the  cry  of  fanaticism,  or  danger  to 
private  rights.  The  officers  of  the  law  go  into  our  most  private 
apartments  to  search  for  sewer-gas,  or  some  source  of  ill-health, 
that  may  work  harm  to  a  few  occupants  of  the  house,  and  pass 
by  the  licensed  shop  that  corrupts  a  neighborhood  and  ruins 
bodies  and  souls.  We  compel  the  fencing  in  of  an  area,  lest 
some  unwary  passer-by  or  some  child  may  fall  into  it ;  and  allow 
the  rum-seller  his  public  bar-room,  where  he  may  display  his 
decanters,  and  his  beer-pump,  and  his  free  lunch  to  entice  our 
young  men  into  the  broad  road  which  leads  to  drunkenness  and 
death.  We  enter  by  force  if  needs  be,  and  take  away  sick 
children  from  their  parents'  care  to  a  public  hospital,  and  disin- 
fect houses  where  there  has  been  a  contagious  disease.  We 
break  up  gambling- hells,  and  policy-shops,  and  disorderly  houses, 
because  they  are  detrimental  to  the  morals  of  the  community. 
But  there  is  no  contagion  more  deadly,  no  gas  more  pernicious, 
no  allurement  to  vice  so  potent  as  this  curse  of  bar-room  drink- 
ing. Where  gaming  ruins  one  fortune  rum  ruins  many ;  and  no 
other  vice  is  so  thoroughly  destructive  of  all  manliness  as  rum 
can  be.  What  vice  or  weakness  can  we  name  that  leads  to  crime 
as  this  does  ?  What  vice  or  misery  can  we  name  to  which  the 
first  glass  may  not  lead  ?  Look  at  the  squandered  fortunes — the 
diseased  frames — the  imbecile  minds — the  ruined  homes — the 
blighted  livss — the  broken  hearts  !  See  in  how  many  families  of 
your  own  friends  the  curse  comes,  striking  the  brightest  and 
best ;  see  the  poverty,  the  ruin,  the  crime,  and  the  vast  multitudes 
going  on  in  never-ending  succession  to  fill  drunkards'  graves ; 
and  then  see  the  community  lopping  off  little  branches  of  evil, 
and  letting  this  giant  tree  of  evil  stand  to  scatter  its  baleful 
, seeds  ! 

We  ask  you,  intelligent  reader,  if  such  a  course  of  conduct  is 
worthy  of  a  Christian  or  even  a  civilized  people  ?     Is  it  not  clearly 


'196  PROHIBITION. 

our  duty  to  protect  the  young  and  the  weak  from  such  a  degrading 
evil  as  the  sin  of  indulging  in  intoxicating  drinks  ? 

It  does  certainly  seem  that  we  should,  at  least,  withhold  the 
sanction  of  the  law  from  the  sale  of  such  drinks.  And  it  does 
seem  that,  if  it  is  ever  proper  to  enact  laws  to  prevent  crime  and 
the  contamination  of  the  young,  it  is  clearly  our  duty,  if  practi- 
cable, to  do  so  in  this  instance.  But  we  know  very  well  that 
before  a  law  can  be  enforced,  the  honest  convictions  of  a  very 
large  majority  of  the  people  must  sustain  it.  If  there  is  any 
doubt  upon  this  point,  our  first  duty  is  clearly  to  do  all  we  can  to 
enlighten  the  people,  and  not  to  strive  to  enact  prematurely  a 
law  which  we  have  good  reason  to  suppose  will  not  be  enforced. 

But  the  writer  thinks  that,  if  the  advocates  of  total  abstinence, 
even  in  the  State  of  New  York,  would  strive  to  enact  a  law  to 
close  all  bar-rooms  where  intoxicating  liquors  are  sold,  or  given 
away  publicly  to  be  drank  on  the  premises ;  and  yet  not  attempt 
to  prevent  their  sale  in  quantity  to  be  taken  away  from  the  place 
of  sale,  that  the  good  sense  of  the  community  would  sustain  such 
a  law.  The  advocates  of  the  liberty  of  drinking  what  they  choose 
could  not  raise  the  cry  that  it  interferes  with  their  right  to  drink, 
and  get  drunk  if  they  choose.  The  habit  of  drinking  intoxicants 
at  this  day  is  generally  acquired  in  bar-rooms,  where  young  men 
can  invite  their  comrades  up  to  take  a  drink  with  them.  Very 
few  young  men  who  have  not  acquired  the  habit  of  drinking 
would  ever  purchase  liquor  to  carry  it  to  their  homes  where,  as 
a  rule,  even  drunken  parents  do  not  favor  their  children's  drink- 
ing. Under  the  operation  of  such  a  law  the  race  of  drinkers 
would  materially  lessen  in  a  very  few  years,  when  there  would 
be  no  difficulty  in  enacting  and  enforcing  a  prohibitory  law. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Samson,  in  a  work  just  published,  entitled  "Sci- 
ence the  Interpreter  of  History  as  to  Fermented  Wine — a  Supple- 
ment to  the  '  Divine  Law  as  to  Wines,' "  speaking  of  the  efforts  of 
the  ancients  to  control  and  prohibit  the  use  of  wines,  says  : 

"  That  it  was  not  the  excess,  but  the  use  of  wines,  which  the 
ancients  sought  to  control  by  law,  is  seen  in  the  entire  list  of  pro- 
hibitions to  youth,  to  women,  to  nurses,  to  men  in  public  service, 


PROHIBITION.  197 

which  Plato  and  Aristotle,  Numa  and  Cato  urged.  That  it  is 
not  the  excessive  use,  but  the  intoxicant  itself,  that  controls 
modern  legislation  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  it  is  not  bread- 
shops,  nor  milk- dealers,  that  need  to  be  restrained  and  pro- 
hibited ;  while  all  unite  in  the  effort  to  restrict  and  suppress  beer- 
saloons,  and  to  supplant  them  by  coffee-shops.  It  is  not  wi?ies, 
but  intoxicating  wines,  that  earnest  Christian  leaders  seek  to  have 
exchanged  for  the  ancient  unintoxicating  wines ;  which  Pliny 
states,  though  costly,  as  were  choice  fruits,  were  sought  for  the 
wealthy  of  his  day.  It  is  such  wines  that  are  now  sought  for  the 
tables  of  the  princely  in  wealth  and  intellect ;  and  above  all,  for 
the  table  of  the  Lord  around  which  the  rich  and  the  poor  meet 
together.  The  noble  condescension,  if  not  the  conscientious 
conviction,  of  American  Christians  cannot  fall  behind  that  of 
Churchmen  of  England  in  seeking  and  permitting  the  use  of 
such  wines." 

In  Maine,  as  is  well  known  to  disinterested  inquirers  and 
observers,  the  law  prohibiting  the  manufacture,  sale,  and  giving 
away  of  intoxicating  drinks,  has  been  very  fairly  enforced  for 
many  years,  perhaps  as  fully  as  laws  against  many  other  crimes  ; 
and  this  notwithstanding  the  immense  pressure  which  has  been 
brought  against  it  from  its  opponents  all  over  the  country.  It 
will  be  much  easier  to  enforce  such  a  law  when  it  is  enacted  by 
other  States. 

As  to  Kansas,  where  such  a  law  has  recently  been  enacted, 
based  upon  a  constitutional  amendment,  we  will  let  the  Governor 
speak  for  his  State  : 

PROHIBITION  IN  THE   STATE   OF  KANSAS GOVERNOR  ST.  JOHN'S  FIRM 

FAITH    IN   THE  TEMPERANCE    MOVEMENT. 

Governor  John  P.  St.  John  of  Kansas  was  in  Indianapolis  lately, 
and  in  a  conversation  with  a  reporter  of  the  Sentinel,  gave  his 
views  upon  the  causes  and  effects  of  the  temperance  movement 
in  the  State  of  Kansas.  In  reply  to  a  question,  its  Governor  said  : 

"What  has  been  accomplished  in  Kansas  is  of  not  near  the 
importance  of  what  will  be  done  in  Indiana.  Our  greatest  work 


1 98  PROHIBITION. 

is  over ;  the  Prohibition  Law  is  enforced,  and  our  people  would 
not  be  without  it." 

"What  started  the  prohibition  movement  in  Kansas ?"  asked 
the  reporter. 

"It  originated  through  local  option,"  was  the  reply,  "which 
started  a  temperance  sentiment  in  the  State  that  spread  with 
great  rapidity.  In  my  town  of  Othalia,  which  has  a  population 
of  about  3,000,  a  local  option  law  was  enforced  a  few  years  ago, 
and  the  three  saloons  were  compelled  to  close  on  account  of 
being  unable  to  obtain  the  petition  of  two-thirds  of  the  adult 
inhabitants  of  the  town.  Previous  to  this  time  the  saloons  paid 
the  city  $1,500  for  license — $500  each — and  out  of  this  amount, 
which  was  received  yearly,  it  became  necessary  to  erect  a  small 
jail  for  drunkards.  Since  the  saloons  have  been  closed  there 
has  been  no  use  for  the  jail,  and  but  one  drunken  man  has  been 
seen  on  the  streets  since  last  November.  The  town  was  never 
before  so  prosperous,  and  the  improvements  it  has  undergone  are 
wonderful.  Such  was  also  the  case  with  the  towns  of  Ottawa, 
Hiawatha,  and  many  others,  and  it  did  not  take  long  to  stir  up 
a  sentiment  in  favor  of  a  prohibitory  amendment  to  the  State 
Constitution." 

"How  long  have  you  had  prohibition  in  Kansas?"  was  the 
next  query. 

"The  amendment  to  the  Constitution  was  passed  by  our  Legis- 
lature in  1879,  and  was  voted  on  by  the  people  at  the  next 
general  election  in  1880,  and  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  8,000. 
It  went  into  effect  last  May.  Since  then  all  disputed  questions 
have  been  settled,  and  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  Attorney- 
General  have  declared  the  law  to  be  constitutional.  Before  the 
election  we  had  to  fight  not  only  the  combined  whisky  element 
of  Kansas,  but  money  was  sent  into  the  State  from  all  parts  of 
the  country  to  use  in  defeating  the  amendment.  We  came 
out  victorious,  however,  and  now  if  a  vote  should  be  taken  by 
the  people  to  restore  anti-prohibition  again  it  would  be  defeated 
by  70,000  majority.  It  is  not  a  'dead  letter,'  as  many  suppose, 
as  we  permit  no  such  things  in  Kansas.  The  whisky  element 


PROHIBITION.  199, 

have  circulated  the  story  all  over  the  United  States  that  the 
amendment  prohibits  the  use  of  wine  for  sacramental  purposes. 
Old  drunkards  and  bummers  who  had  not  been  in  Church  for 
twenty  years  shed  crocodile  tears  over  this  matter.  It  is  wholly  a 
misrepresentation  of  facts.  The  amendment  plainly  says  :  'The 
manufacture  and  sale  ot  intoxicating  liquors  shall  be  forever  pro- 
hibited in  this  State,  except  for  medical,  scientific,  and  mechani- 
cal purposes.'  Every  Church  in  the  State  indorsed  the  law. 
Since  we  have  had  prohibition  there  has  been  a  very  noticeable 
decrease  in  crime.  On  the  3Oth  day  of  December,  1880,  there 
were  725  convicts  in  the  State  prison,  and  on  June  30,  1881, 
there  were  659,  a  decrease  of  66  in  six  months.  There  had 
been  no  decrease  for  ten  years  before." 

"Does  the  temperance  question  enter  into  the  politics  of 
Kansas?"  asked  the  scribe. 

"  Prohibition  was  never  a  political  question.  I  was  elected  as 
a  straight  radical  Republican,  and  received  a  plurality  of  52,000 
votes,  which  was  a  majority  of  33,000  over  the  Democratic 
and  Greenback  candidates.  I  was  nominated  for  the  office  on 
the  first  ballot,  notwithstanding  there  were  six  other  candidates. 
The  Democratic  party  in  Kansas,  as  an  organization,  is  opposed 
to  prohibition,  although  there  are  probably  a  large  number  of 
Democrats  who  favor  prohibition  and  voted  for  it." 

"Is  it  true,  Governor,  that  a  large  number  of  persons  are 
leaving  the  State  on  account  of  the  prohibitory  law?" 

"It  is  not  the  case,"  was  the  emphatic  reply.  "You  cannot 
show  me  fifty  men  who  have  left  Kansas  on  account  of  prohibi- 
tion. The  saloon-keepers  are  the  only  men  who  are  leaving. 
Where  you  get  one  of  our  saloon-keepers  we  get  several  Indiana 
families  on  account  of  prohibition,  and  the  exchange  is  a  good 
one  for  us.  Never  in  the  history  of  the  State  have  we  had  such 
a  fine  immigration,  and  the  immigrants  are  all  of  the  better  class, 
who  make  good  citizens.  The  State  is  increasing  in  wealth,  and 
the  good  results  of  prohibition  are  apparent  to  every  one.  We 
never  had  but  two  distillers  to  consume  our  corn,  and  therefore, 
there  is  no  change  in  the  market  for  grain.  There  always  was  a 


200  PROHIBITION. 

market  for  corn  on  account  of  the  outlet  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  the  South." 

"What  do  you  think  of  the  progress  of  the  temperance  move- 
ment throughout  the  country?  " 

"It  is  my  opinion,"  he  answered,  "that  it  will  not  be  a  quarter 
of  a  century  before  there  will  be  an  amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States.  It  would  sooner  occur  if  the  debt  ques- 
tion was  out  of  the  way.  I  do  not  believe  in  that  manner  of  paying 
the  public  debt,  but  the  Government  finds  the  income  from  the 
manufacture  of  alcohol  a  convenient  way  to  assist  in  settling  it." 

'EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG   AND   PROHIBITION. 

In  his  Memorial  to  the  Swedish  Diet,  quoted  in  a  previous 
chapter,  after  suggesting  that  certain  restrictions  should  be  placed 
on  the  distilling  of  whisky, — "  provided  the  public  can  be  prevailed 
upon  to  accede  to  the  measure," — Swedenborg  says  :  "That  is,  if 
the  consumption  of  whisky  cannot  be  done  away  with  altogether, , 
which  would  be  more  desirable  for  the  country's  welfare  and 
morality  than  all  the  income  which  could  be  realized  from  so 
pernicious  a  drink." 

Swedenborg  well  knew,  as  we  know,  that  prohibition  alone 
could  do  away  with  the  use  of  whisky  entirely,  and  it  is  of  legal 
measures  he  is  speaking  in  the  above  paragraph ;  and  that  he . 
would  have  approved  of  prohibition,  if  it  had  been  practicable, 
the  writer  thinks  is  manifest. 

"I  spoke  with  spirits,"  says  Swedenborg,  "concerning  drunk- 
enness, and  it  was  confirmed  by  them  that  it  is  an  enormous  sin, 
as  well  as  that  man  becomes  a  brute  [and]  no  longer  a  man ; 
because  that  man  is  a  man  lies  in  his  intellectual  faculty,  thus  he 
becomes  a  brute,  besides  which  he  brings  damage  on  his  body, 
and  so  hastens  his  death,  besides  wasting  in  extravagance  what 
might  be  of  use  to  many. — (1748,  June  27.)  And  it  appeared  to 
them  so  filthy  that  they  abhorred  such  a  life,  which  mortals  never- 
theless have  introduced  among  themselves  as  a  civil  life."  (S.  D. 
242  2.  J  No  wonder  that  Swedenborg  favored  prohibition. 


CHAPTER     XIV. 

FINAL  APPEAL   TO   THE   MEN   AND   WOMEN   OF   THE   NEW   CHURCH. 

WHILE  the  New  Church  in  this  country,  as  an  external  organi- 
zation, is  silent  in  regard  to  the  evils  of  intemperance,  and  so 
many  of  its  periodicals  and  clergy  are  striving  to  justify  the  use 
of  fermented  wine,  and  some  of  them  of  whisky,  as  beverages, 
our  brethren  in  Great  Britain  are  awakening  to  the  importance  of 
this  question.  It  was  stated  some  months  ago,  in  the  Morning 
Light,  that  one-third  of  the  New  Church  clergy  and  one-third  of 
the  laity  in  that  country  were  advocates  of  total  abstinence.  A 
New  Church  Temperance  Society,  with  auxilliary  societies,  has 
been  formed,  and  "Bands .of  Hope,"  in  various  localities,  are 
energetically  laboring  in  this  great  reform  movement. 

At  the  annual  meeting  or  the  New  Church  Conference  recently 
held,  we  are  told  by  the  Morning  Light,  that  "  resolutions  were 
passed  unanimously  expressing  the  satisfaction  of  the  Conference 
at  the  formation  of  the  New  Church  Temperance  Society,  and  in 
favor  of  the  Sunday  Closing  Bill." 

The  Temperance  Society  held  its  annual  meeting  during  the 
session  of  the  Conference.  In  regard  to  this  meeting,  the  Morn- 
ing Light  says  : 

"  In  the  evening  a  very  successful  meeting  was  held  in  the  large  school- 
room, the  room  being  well  filled — indeed  a  great  many  friends  being  obliged 
to  stand.  At  half-past  seven  the  Rev.  G.  H.  Smith  took  the  chair,  and 
mentioned  the  broad  basis  of  the  Society,  recommending  all  present  to  join 
its  ranks  before  leaving  that  night.  The  Rev.  P.  Ramage  moved  the  first 
resolution — 'That  this  meeting  expresses  its  satisfaction  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  New  Church  Temperance  Society,  and  cordially  recommends 
its  operations  to  every  member  in  the  New  Church.'  Mr.  Ramage  made  a 
brief  but  able  speech,  dwelling  on  the  importance  of  bringing  up  children 
in  the  habits  of  total  abstinence.  The  Rev.  R.  R.  Rodgers  warmly  sup- 
ported the  resolutions,  and  said  that  he  thought  at  one  time  no  one  could 


202  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND 

have  felt  more  certain  than  he  that  only  moderate  drinkers  possessed  com- 
mon sense,  and  that  teetotallers  were  all  fanatics.  However,  during  the 
last  year,  when  he  had  really  and  thoroughly  investigated  the  matter,  he 
found  that  in  every  way  the  teetotaller  had  the  best  of  the  argument. 
Whether  it  was  in  science,  in  health,  or  in  practice,  all  on  investigation 
tended  to  prove  total  abstinence  was  more  productive  of  health,  longevity 
and  comfort,  and  therefore,  as  an  honest  man,  he  could  not  help  siding 
with  total  abstinence.  He  \vas  not  a  teetotaller  at  present,  but  he  was 
coming  to  it,  [We  wish  all  of  our  clerical  brethren  could  say  as  much.] 
He  hoped  that  every  minister  and  representative  of  the  Conference  would 
join  the  Society  before  returning  home.  The  resolution  was  then  put  to 
the  meeting,  and  carried  unanimously  amid  loud  applause. 

"  The  next  resolution  was — '  That  this  meeting,  deeply  impressed  with 
the  evils  which  the  national  intemperance  is  daily  producing — evils  domestic, 
social,  economical,  political  and  moral,  and  which  Mr.  Gladstone  has 
described  as  equalling  the  combined  calamities  of  war,  pestilence,  and 
famine — earnestly  asserts  the  paramount  necessity  of  dealing  with  the  ques- 
tion by  legislative  enactment  at  the  earliest  opportunity.' 

"This  was  moved  by  Dr.  F.  R.  Lees,  of  Leeds,  who  spoke  at  some 
length,  showing  wherever  prohibition  had  been  tried,  whether  in  England, 
Ireland,  Australia  or  America,  the  result  had  been  the  great  diminution  of 
all  kinds  of  crime,  and  the  social  and  moral  elevation  of  the  people.  The 
Rev.  J.  Deans,  in  a  few  words,  supported  the  resolution,  which  was  carried 
unanimously." 

Shall  we  of  the  New  Church  in  this  country  set  our  faces 
against  this  fearful  evil  of  indulging  in  intoxicating  drinks,  and 
consequently  put  away  drunkenness  from  our  midst ;  or  shall  we, 
knowing  and'  remembering  that  such  drinks  are  the  product  of 
human  manipulation  and  skill,  or  science  aided  by  leaven,  con- 
tinue to  cling  to,  and  lug  along,  these  flesh-pots  from  Egypt  in  our 
journey  toward  the  Holy  City?  We  pray  for  the  peace  of  the 
New  Jerusalem,  and  that  the  promises  of  increase  made  to  her 
may  find  a  speedy  fulfillment  on  the  earth.  May  not  the  day 
which  we  thus  desire  and  hope  for  be  hastened  or  delayed,  as  we 
ourselves  shall  prepare  the  way  for  it,  by  shunning  evils  as  sins 
against  God.  We  are  told  in  the  writings  of  the  Church  that  the 
"falsities  of  the  former  Church  fight  against  the  truths  of  the  New 
Church"  (A,  R.  548),  and  "that  the  Church  should  at  first  be 
among  a  few,  and  should  increase  gradually  among  many,  because 


WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  203 

the  falsities  of  the  former  Church  must  first  be  removed,  as  truths 
cannot  before  be  received ;  for  the  truths  which  are  received  and 
implanted  before  falsities  are  removed  do  not  remain."  With 
these  words  before  us,  can  we  believe  it  possible  that  the  Lord  in 
His  Providence  will  permit  a  Church  organization  to  prosper,  as 
we  all  feel  the  New  Church  should  prosper,  and  cover  the  earth, 
while  such  an  organization  and  its  periodicals  and  clergy,  so 
generally  are  either  silent  in  regard  to  such  evils  or  direct  advo- 
cates of  drinking  of  intoxicating  liquors,  of  smoking  and  chewing 
tobacco — a  terribly  poisonous  substance — and  of  the  pernicious 
fashionable  habits  so  destructive  to  our  race ;  thus  either  tolerat- 
ing or  directly  striving  to  perpetuate  during  the  endless  ages  to 
come,  drunkenness,  filthy  habits  :  a  polluted  atmosphere  for  men, 
women  and  children  to  breathe  ;  deformity,  disease  and  the  de- 
struction of  a  large  portion  of  the  children  before  they  are  five 
years  old ;  and  permitting  few  to  reach  advanced  age.  These 
evils,  as  we  have  heretofore  intimated,  have  come  down  to  us  from 
a  perverted  age  of  the  world  and  a  fallen  state  of  the  Church,  and 
we  must  .put  them  away  as  sins  against  God.  What  a  dreadful 
thing  it  is  to  strive  to  justify  them  from  a  religious  standpoint,  and 
thus  to  perpetuate  them  from  generation  to  generation  ! 

What  a  fearful  thing  for  humanity,  if  the  New  Jerusalem  Church, 
the  Crown  of  all  the  Churches,  were,  as  an  external  organi- 
zation, to  prevail  rapidly  and  spread  over  the  earth,  hugging 
to  her  bosom  the  monstrous  evils  we  have  named  above  ;  or,  at 
least,  allowing  them  to  prevail  without  one  word  of  rebuke,  and 
thus  perpetuating  them.  We  can  stand  aloof,  my  brethren,  from 
the  great  reforms  of  this  new  age  ;  indeed,  we  may  oppose  them 
if  we  will ;  but  let  us  not  forget  that  by  so  doing  we  shall  be  hin- 
dering, as  far  as  within  us  lies,  the  Lord's  work  on  earth,  by 
cherishing  and  defending  the  falsities  of  the  former  Church  within 
the  New  Church  :  and  opposing  and  discrediting  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem now  descending  from  God  out  of  Heaven,  which  is  making 
all  things  new.  Light  has  come  into  the  world,  showing  us  many 
evils  that  were  before  esteemed  good :  and  that  light  will  con- 
demn us  if  we  walk  not  according  to  it.  These  great  reform 


204  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND 

movements  did  not  exist  and  could  not  have  existed  before  the 
Last  Judgment.  They  are  clearly  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  we 
may  not  be,  for  it  requires  life  as  well  as  faith  to  make  a  man 
a  genuine  New  Churchman.  We  must  shun  evils  as  sins  against 
God — shun  them  in  our  external  lives,  and  discountenance  them 
in  others  by  our  example,  if  we  would  enter  the  Holy  City.  It  is 
not  well  for  us  to  deceive  ourselves  or  others. 

The  State  Board  of  Public  Charities  in  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts make  this  significant  statement :  that  in  the  careful 
breeding  of  cattle  96  per  cent,  come  to  maturity,  and  that  of 
horses  95  per  cent,  come  to  maturity  even  in  this  northern 
climate ;  but  in  the  breeding  of  children  less  than  65  per  cent, 
comes  to  maturity. 

Only  think  of  it,  dear  reader.  Seven  times  as  many  of  the 
human  race,  whom  the  Lord  has  endowed  with  freedom  and 
reason  die  before  reaching  maturity,  as  die  among  cattle  and 
horses  ;  and  this  is  not  the  worst  feature  of  the  comparison  which 
can  be  made ;  for  those  which  reach  a  mature  age  among 
the  above  animals,  if  their  lives  are  not  taken,  and.  they  are 
not  abused  by  man,  almost  all  will  be  healthy,  strong,  and 
well-developed,  and  finally  die  of  old  age ;  while  among  the 
human  species,  almost  all  inherit  a  tendency  to  some  one  or 
more  of  the  various  diseases  which  afflict  humanity,  and  a  ma- 
jority cannot  be  regarded  as  healthy,  and  are -subject  to  serious 
periods  of  suffering,  if  they  do  not  suffer  more  or  less  almost 
constantly  from  the  time  of  birth  to  the  grave.  Insanity  is  also 
fearfully  prevalent,  and  deformity  is  common  among  the  men. 
Among  the  women  it  is  very  difficult  to  find  a  single  beauti- 
ful, symmetrical,  graceful  human  form,  for  deformity  is  the  rule, 
— alas  !  too  frequently  voluntarily  induced,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
deformed  waists  which  are  almost  universal. 

We  judge  of  the  age  of  a  horse  by  his  teeth.  What  success  would 
we  have  in  judging  of  the  age  of  middle-aged  men  and  women  by 
their  teeth  ?  Why,  it  often  happens  that  by  the  age  of  forty  or 
fifty  years,  when  they  should  be  in  their  prime,  they  have  no 
teeth ;  but  if 'they  are  more  fortunate,  it  very  frequently  happens 


WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  205 

that  they  are  so  crowded  and  decayed,  or  so  many  of  them 
gone,  that  we  should  find  them  a  very  poor  criterion  by  which 
to  judge  of  the  age  of  the  individual. 

Now,  dear  friends,  this  direful  state  of  things,  this  deformity, 
insanity,  suffering,  and  premature  death,  are  the  result  of  causes 
both  spiritual  and  physical — are  the  result  of  the  violation  of  the 
laws  of  spiritual  and  physical  life  and  health,  resulting  from  the 
abuse  of  the  freedom  and  reason  with  which  the  Lord  has 
endowed  us.  We  cannot  attribute  it  all  to  ignorance,  for  the 
animals  are  ignorant,  but  comparatively  healthy.  A  large  portion 
is  due  to  the  evils  of  a  long  line. of  ancestors ;  but,  insomuch  as 
we  violate  the  laws  of  spiritual  and  physical  life  we  individually 
are  responsible,  and  we  are  responsible  for  the  example  which  we 
set  to  others.  How  important  for  us,  how  important  for  the 
world  around  us,  and  for  our  children  and  our  children's  children 
for  ages  to  come,  that  we  realize  our  responsibility  and  shape 
our  lives  accordingly.  Can  you,  dear  parents,  see  your  own  child 
suffering  and  dying,  while  the  offspring  of  the  animals  around  you 
are  so  generally  healthy  and  grow  to  maturity,  without  feeling 
that  some  little  responsibility  rests  upon  you,  without  being 
moved  by  sympathy  for  the  children,  which  the  Lord  has  en- 
, trusted  to  your  care,  to  inquire  earnestly  into  the  causes  which 
have  produced  the  suffering  and  death  of  your  little  ones  ?  You 
will  not  have  to  inquire  long,  to  find  that  to  gratify  perverted  love 
of  approbation  or  vanity,  and  perverted  appetites  and  passions, 
habits  are  voluntarily  followed  which  are  fearfully  destructive  to 
pur  race.  . 

We  think  we  can  say,  without  any  danger  of  having  our  opinion 
called  in  question  by  any  one  who  has  patiently  and  carefully 
examined  into  the  causes  of  the  physical  suffering,  deformity 
and  premature  deaths  around  us,  that  tight- lacing  among  our 
women  impairs  the  physical  development  and  stamina  of  our  race 
more  than  any  other  evil ;  for  it  saps  the  very  foundations  of  life, 
by  preventing  the  development  of  the  young,  before  they  are 
born,  and  by  too  frequently  depriving  them  of  proper  nourish- 
ment after  birth.  The  women  of  the  New  Church  here  have  a 


206  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEX  AND 

work  to  do  which  they  should  not  neglect.  This  fearful  evil, 
which  is  so  destructive,  should  be  put  away  and  shunned  as  a  sin 
against  God.  Idleness  among  the  young  women  is  also  a  great 
evil  with  many,  and  prevents  the  development  of  the  body. 

But  beyond  all  question  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  which 
have  their  origin  as  we  have  seen  from  hell,  demoralizes  and 
depraves  men,  and  causes  more  insanity,  mental  suffering,  and 
wretchedness  than  any  other  evil.  While  the  New  Church 
organizations,  its  pulpits, — with  a  very  few  noble  exceptions, — and 
its  periodicals  are  either  shunning  this  subject,  or  directly  jus- 
tifying and  thus  encouraging  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks ; 
and  so  many  of  our  clergymen  are  vindicating  the  use  of  fer- 
mented wine,  and  some  even  of  whisky ;  the  religious  world 
around  us  is  alive  to  the  importance  and  duty  of  shunning  this 
evil.  We  ask  our  brethren  to  consider  seriously  the  following 
paragraph  which  we  take  frqm  the  New  York  Tribune : 

"The  Methodist  Conference,  which  closed  its  sessions  in  Portland,  Me., 
last  week,  adopted  a  striking  report  on  the  evils  of  intemperance.  The 
charge  was  made  that  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  murders  committed  can 
be  laid  at  turn's  door.  Fifty  per  cent,  of  all  the  insanity  comes  from  strong 
drink.  Seventy-five  per  cent,  of  all  criminals  become  such  while  cra/od  by 
drink,  and  ninety-six  per  cent,  of  all  the  tramps  and  worthless  youth  of  the 
land  swarm  from  drunken  homes.  It  costs  for  the  support  of  63,000 
churches,  80,000  ministers,  all  public  schools  and  colleges,  all  missions,  all 
benevolent  work  in  the  United  States,  and  the  support  of  the  National 
Government,  not  over  $500,000,000  a  year.  It  costs  for  250,000  driim- 
shops,  400,000  liquor-sellers,  over  300,000  criminals,  800,000  paupers,  30,000 
idiots,  nearly  70,000  drunkards'  funerals,  and  to  maintain  the  orphan  asy- 
lums, reformatories,  etc.,  more  than  a  billion  a  year.  Who  is  responsible 
for  all  this  waste  of  money,  and  health  and  life  ?  The  Church  of  Christ  is 
largely  responsible ;  for  the  Master  has  said  to  His  Church,  '  Ye  are  the 
light  of  the  world,  ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth.' " 

The  Methodist  Church  is  one  of  the  largest,  most  prosperous, 
and  progressive  of  the  churches  of  our  country.  It  commenced 
its  existence  but  a  short  time  after  the  Last  Judgment,  and  to-day 
its  adherents  number  more  than  any  other  denomination  in  the 
United  States;  while  the  adherents  of  the  organized  Church  of 


WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  ?o; 

the  New  Jerusalemvonly  number  a  few  thousands.  It  is  true  that 
all  the  believers  of  the  heavenly  doctrines  do  not  belong  to 
the  organized  New  Church,  for  many  of  them  are  to  be  found 
scattered  among  the  members  of  other  Churches,  and  some  are 
not  members  of  any  Church  organization ;  still  their  number  is 
comparatively  small,  for  the  prediction  was,  that  at  first  their 
number  would  be  few,  but  afterward  they  would  increase.  Have 
we  any  indications  that  the  time  for  such  increase  is  at  hand  ?  Can 
we  not  see  in  the  attitude  which  the  organized  New  Church  occu- 
pies to-day,  on  the  great  reforms  of  the  age,  the  reason  why 
its  members  are  so  few  ? 

There  are  millions  of  people  in  the  United  States,  who  belong 
to  no  Church,  who  do  not  regularly  attend  Church,  and  who  be-: 
lieve  the  doctrines  of  no  religious  body.  They  have  discarded  many 
false  doctrines,  but  have  no  accurate  knowledge  of  true  doctrines, 
excepting  a  general  acquaintance  with  the  Commandments  of  the 
Decalogue,  and  the  precepts  enunciated  by  the  Lord  when  He 
was  on  earth,  and  for  these  they  entertain  more  or  less  respect. 
They  are  not  hypocrites,  and  many  of  them  are  intelligent  men 
and  women,  and  live  orderly  lives.  They  generally  respect  people 
who  live  good  lives,  and  will  listen  attentively  and  approvingly  to 
earnest  practical  preaching  which  inculcates  a  good  life.  Here, 
then,  in  our  own  country,  living  in  our  very  midst,  are  people 
enough  in  this  Gentile  state,  to  form  a  nation,  which,  standing 
by  itself,  would  command  the  respect  of  the  world.  The 
New  Church  has  true  doctrines,  and  the  most  valuable  precepts 
of  life  which  can  be  rationally  seen  to  be  true — true  in  the  light 
of  truth  itself. 

Why  is  it,  then,  that  the  New  Church  does  not  make  more  rapid 
progress  among  this  multitude,  to  all  appearance  so  admirably 
prepared  for  a  reception  of  her  clear  and  rational  doctrines? 
Have  we  who  have  received  these  beautiful  revelations  cast  any 
stumbling-blocks  in  their  way  ?  Have  our  clergymen  and  writers 
done  so  ?  These  are  questions  well  worthy  of  our  consideration. 
If  the  reader  will  pardon  him,  the  writer  will  give  a  little  of  his 
own  history.  Although  the  son  of  a  deacon  of  the  Baptist 


208  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND 

Church;  he  never  united  with  that  Church,^  but  early  began  to 
doubt  many  of  its  doctrines ;  and  at  thirty  years  of  age,  he 
belonged  to  the  great  class  of  Gentiles,  if  you  please  to  call  them 
so,  to  which  he  has  alluded.  While  practising  medicine  in  a 
Western  city,  two  of  his  patrons,  one  a  lady  and  the  other  a 
gentleman,  lent,  him  Professor  George  Bush's  "Reasons,"  and 
Swedenborg's  "  Heaven  and  Hell,"  both  of  which  he  read. 
About  that  time  some  lectures  were  being  given  by  a  New 
Church  clergyman,  which  he  attended,  and  in  this  way  he  soon 
became  deeply  interested  in  the  Writings  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg. 
His  business  partner,  similarly  situated,  also  commenced  reading 
about  the  same  time..  It  was  soon  known  by  the  members  of  the 
Church  there,  that  we  were  reading  the  writings  with  some 
interest ;  and  soon  afterward  we  were  invited  to  a  New  Church 
"sociable,"  which  we  attended.  During  the  evening,  fermented 
wine  was  passed  around  to  the  company  present,  and  offered  to 
us.  We  were  shocked  beyond  measure,  and  quietly  spoke  to 
the  New  Church  clergyman  in  regard  to  it,  there  and. then; 
when,  to  our  surprise,  he  justified  its  use,  quoting  for.  that  purpose 
some  passages  from  Swedenborg,  and  then  drank  of  it  himself 
along  with  others  of  the  company. 

When  the  writer  was  about  eighteen  years  old,  his  father  gave 
up  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and  signed  a  pledge  never  to 
use  them  again,  and  his  son  followed  his  example.  In  looking 
back  over  the  years  which  have  since  passed,  at  his  own  life  and 
the  lives  of  his  acquaintances,  if  there  is  one  thing  standing  out 
boldly,  above  all  others,  for  which  he  to-day  specially  feels  thank- 
ful to  his  father,  it  is  for  the  example  which  he  then  set  before  him. 
We  know  that  it  is  not  every  child  who  follows  the  example  of 
his  parents  ;  but  many  do,  both  in  good  and  evil.  That  pledge 
the  writer  conscientiously  kept.  When  a  young  man,  away 
from  kindred  and  home,  and  travelling  for  months  among  stran- 
gers, he  was  often  asked  to  drink,  even  by  ladies,  but  that  pledge 
was — what  the  Church  should  be  to  all  its  members — a  protec- 
tion against  the  debasing  evil  of  drinking  and  drunkenness. 


WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  209 

'  There  are  millions  of  men  and  women  in  our  country,  who 
belong  to  no  Church,  but  who  have  taken  a  pledge  to  abstain 
from  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  honestly  feeling  that  it  is 
wrong  to  use  them,  and  who,  we  have  every  reason  to  suppose, 
are  conscientiously  keeping  it,  and  are  thereby  shielded  and 
protected,  not  only  from  drunkenness,  but  from  many  other 
evils  ;  for  Swedenborg  teaches  us,  that  when  a  man  conscientiously 
shuns  one  evil,  the  Lord  strives  to  keep  him  in  the  effort  to  shun 
all  evils.  Here,  then,  is  good  ground  for  the  reception  of  the 
rational  doctrines  of  the  New  Church,  and  a  vast  field  ready  for 
the  seedsman.  But,  we  ask  you,  intelligent  reader,  if  a  minister, 
missionary,  writer,  layman,  or  periodical,  with,  as  it  were,  the 
clear  and  beautiful  revelations  of  the  New  Church  in  one  hand, 
and  a  glass  of  intoxicating  wine,  beer,  or  perhaps  whisky  in  the 
other  hand,  is  likely  to  command  the  respect,  or  even  seriously 
attract  the  attention  of  many  of  this  great  army  of  total  abstinence 
men  and  women  dwelling  among  us  ?  Is  this  not  a  dreadful  evil, 
a  hindrance  to  the  Church's  progress,  and  a  stumbling-block  to 
many  conscientious  men,  which  we,  as  New  Churchmen,  should 
remove  out  of  the  path  of  others,  by  putting  it  away  from  our  lives 
and  from  our  communion-tables  ? 

Again,  there  is  scarcely  a  man  or  woman  in  this  great  mul- 
titude who  does  not  recognize  the  fact  that  the  use  of  tobacco 
is  a  filthy  and  injurious  habit,  totally  unbecoming  a  Christian 
man ;  a  large  number  of  total  abstainers  from  intoxicating 
drinks  abstain  also  from  the  use  of  tobacco,  because  they 
feel  that  it  is  injurious  to  health,  and  consequently  wrong  to  use 
it.  There  are  very  few  in  the  community  who,  whether  they  use 
it  or  not,  do  not  recognize  and  will  not  acknowledge  that  its  use 
is.  injurious,  and  that  it  is  really  an  evil  which  should  be  put  away. 
Now,  with  the  glorious  doctrines  in  our  keeping,  that  "  all 
religion  has  relation  to  life,  and  that  the  life  of  religion  is  to  do 
good,"  and  that  to  shun  evils  as  sins  is  to  do  good ;  what  is  the 
example  so  frequently  set  by  even  venerable  and  deservedly 
esteemed  members  of  our  New  Church  organizations  ?  Is  it  such 
as  will  command  the  respect  of  this  large  class  of  our  citizens 


2io  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND 

who  totally  shun  the  evils  we  are  considering  ?  If  these  men  to 
whom  we  may  best  appeal,  judge  the  doctrines  offered  for  their 
acceptance  by  the  teaching  and  example  of  those  who  hold  and 
advocate  them,  will  they  not  be  repelled  by  the  consciousness 
that  instead  of  advancing  to  a  higher  plane  of  life  in  the  New 
Church,  they  will  be  abandoning  good  for  evil,  and  descending 
to  a  lower  plane?  The  teaching  of  men  who  justify,  and  thus 
encourage  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  can  never  command  the 
the  respect  of  total  abstinence  men  and  women.  The  Church 
will  not  grow  as  she  should  till  she  is  purged  from  the  old  leaven  \ 
Doubtless,  many  remember  the  anecdote  which  was.  told  of  a 
prominent  member  of  a  Church,  who  met  his  pastor,  as  he  was 
about  entering  the  pulpit,  and,  whispering  in  his  ear,  said : 
"Be  very  careful  and  not  say  anything  in  your  sermon  about  the 

manufacturing,  sale,  and  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  for  Mr. , 

the  distiller,  who  contributes  largely  to  the  support  of  our  Church, 
I  see  is  present."  "Well,"  replied  the  clergyman,  "what  shall  I 
preach  about,  if  I  may  not  speak  of  such  an  evil?"  "Why," 
replied  the  member,  "preach  about  anything — anything  else — 
preach  about  the  Mormons  •  there  is  not  a  single  Mormon  in 
our  congregation." 

But  preaching  which  purposely  shuns  the  habitual  evils  of  life, 
such  as  the  selling  and  using  of  intoxicating  drinks  and  tobacco, 
and  of  tight-lacing — evils  which  are  so  fearful  in  their  consequences 
as  to  lessen  the  vitality  of  our  race,  and  to  impair  the  health,  and 
even  to  destroy  the  lives  of  men,  women,  and  innocent  children — • 
does  not  to-day  command  the  respect  of  this  vast  multitude  of 
intelligent  men  and  women,  who,  belonging  to  no  Church,  are 
shunning  these  evils.  Evils  in  our  day  are  brought  to  light  and 
made  more  clearly  manifest  than  they  have  been  in  past  ages, 
and  intelligent  men,  who  would  be  likely  to  receive  the  doctrines 
of  the  New  Church,  see  them  when  properly  presented  by  preach- 
ing, and  respect  those  who  shun  then\in  their  lives. 

Herein,  it  seems  to  the  writer,  lies  the  power  of  the  Methodist 
Church  among  those  outside  of  Church  organizations,  and  the 
reason  why  it  has  made  such  progress  in  the  world.  It  has  been 


WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  211 

foremost  in  denouncing  evils,  and  active  in  every  great  reform 
movement.  It  gave  forth  no  uncertain  sound  as  to  that  "  sum  of 
all  villainies,"  human  slavery,  and  it  was  a  power  in  the  land  for 
good  in  the  contest  that  resulted  in  its  final  overthrow.  In  re- 
gard to  the  terrible  evil  of  intemperance,  the  Methodist  Conference 
fearlessly  declares  as  above  that  "The  Church  of  Christ  is  largely 
responsible"  for  all  of  the  resulting  waste  of  money,  and  health, 
and  life ;  "for  the  Master  has  said  to  His  Church,  'Ye  are  the 
light  of  the  world,  ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth.'  " 

As  to  the  use  of  tobacco,  the  testimony  of  the  Methodist  Church 
is  almost  unanimously  against  it,  and  it  has  not  feared  to  grapple 
with  the  injurious  and  destructive  habits  of  women,  to  point  them 
out,  and  to  call  upon  its  members  to  shun  them.  If  it  has  some- 
times denounced  innocent  and  useful  amusements,  and  harmless 
forms  of  dress,  we  should  remember  that  most  of  its  members  are 
living  only  in  the  dawning  light  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  and  do  not 
even  recognize  the  source  from  which  the  light  of  this  new  age  is 
coming ;  but  we  know  that  those  who  strive  to  live  in  accordance 
with  the  truths  which  they  already  see,  are,  as  a  rule,  the  first  to 
recognize  other  truths  when  they  are  presented ;  consequently,  as 
might  be  expected,  we  have  good  evidence  that  the  light  of  the 
New  Jerusalem  is  permeating  this  Church  rapidly.  There  are 
several  other  Churches  not  far  behind  the  Methodist-Episcopal 
Church  in  their  condemnation  of  the  drinking  of  intoxicating  wine  ; 
and,  consequently,  they  are  becoming  arks  of  safety  against  the 
flood  of  drunkenness,  and  a  host  of  other  evils  intimately  con- 
nected with  wine  and  whisky-drinking.  Is  it  strange  that  fathers 
and  mothers  who  love  their  children,  and  care  for  their  future 
happiness  and  welfare,  hesitate  before  leaving  a  Church,  where 
they  are  taught  by  the  pulpit  and  press,  and  by  the  precepts  and 
example  of  its  members,  to  shun  the  use  of  intoxicating  wine — 
to  say  nothing  of  whisky — for  the  purpose  of  joining  a  Church 
which,  by  its  pulpit  and  its  press,  is  generally,  either  silent,  or 
justifying  the  use  of  this  fearfully  poisonous  and  destructive  drink  ; 
and  whose  members,  even  to  its  clergy,  so  frequently  set  an  exam- 
ple to  the  young  by  openly  using  it  ? 


212  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND 

A  recent  writer  says  truly  that,  "Entire  abstinence  insures 
safety ;  nothing  else  can.  It  is  a  great  act  to  reclaim  a  drinking 
man,  but  how  much  greater  to  keep  a  young  man  from  the  use  of 
intoxicating  drinks." 

But,  to  return  to  the  subject  of  the  writer's  first  attendance  at  a 
New  Church  "sociable"  over  thirty  years  ago,  the  clergyman  and 
such  of  his  congregation  as  desired  were  holding  meetings  on 
Sunday  afternoons,  for  the  purpose  of  reading  and  conversing 
about  the  new  doctrines.  When  fermented  wine  was  presented  at 
the  "  sociable,"  as  already  stated,  the  writer  and  his  business  partner 
requested  that  the  subject  of  intoxicating  wine  should  be  brought 
up  and  considered  at  the  next  meeting:  to  which  proposition 
the  clergyman  consented.  We  had  read  the  Writings  of  Sweden- 
borg,  at  that  time,  only  to  a  very  limited  extent ;  but  we  could  not 
believe  it  was  possible,  that  the  beautiful  and  rational  writings 
we  had  been  reading,  could  advocate  and  justify  the  drinking  of 
intoxicating  drinks,  or  in  any  way  countenance  their  use. 

In  the  discussion  at  our  Sunday  afternoon  meeting,  we  pre- 
sented the  scientific  aspect  of  the  question,  bringing  evidence  that 
fermented  wine  is  a  poison,  every  way  injurious  and  destructive 
when  used  as  a  beverage  ;  and  we  called  attention  to  the  fearful 
consequences  which  had  resulted  to  our  race  from  its  use,  both 
physically  and  spiritually,  and  to  the  testimony  of  the  Word  of 
the  Lord  as  to  its  pernicious  character.  We  were  met  by  the 
clergyman  with  the  comparisons  found  in  the  Writings  of  Sweden- 
borg,  which  we  have  considered  in  a  previous  chapter,  and  by 
assumptions,  and  arguments  based  thereon,  which  we  have  also 
considered  in  the  preceding  pages.  Neither  party  was  satisfied 
by  the  result  of  the  afternoon's  discussion,  and  neither  was 
convinced,  consequently  we  adjourned  the  further  considera- 
tion of  the  subject  to  the  next  Sabbath  afternoon.  In  the 
meantime,  our  reverend  friend  prepared  a  sermon  which  he 
preached  in  the  forenoon,  in  which  he  earnestly  endeavored  to 
sustain  his  views,  and  in  which  he  took  the  ground  that  alcohol 
was  the  result  of  the  influx  from  the  celestial  angels,  angels  of  the 
highest  heaven,  down  into  the  juice  of  the  grape,  moving  and 


WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  213 

separating  and  precipitating  "its  earth-born  impurities.'1  We 
were  not  idle  during  the  week,  and  providentially  we  obtained  a 
copy  of  Swedenborg's  work  on  "The  Diyine  Love  and  Wisdom," 
and  found  the  chapter  treating  of  good  and  evil  uses  ;  where  we 
saw  that  all  things  which  hurt  and  kill  men,  all  poisonous  substances 
which  injure  men,  were  not  created  by  the  Lord,  but  that  they 
derive  their  life  from  hell.  So  that  when  we  came  together  on 
the  Sabbath  afternoon  to  discuss  the  question,  we  took  the  ground 
that  alcohol  was  produced  by  the  influx  from  devils  of  the  lowest 
hell — well,  the  reader  will  readily  understand  that  there  was  a 
slight  difference  betwen  the  views  of  the  clergyman  and  of  his 
novitiate  laymen,  and  the  discussion  was  an  earnest  one,  the 
reader  may  rest  assured ;  and  at  its  close,  it  was  not  the  present 
writer  who  was  anxious  to  drop  the  question.  We  know  we  did 
not  convince  our  reverend  friend,  for  in  a  communication 
recently  received,  he  still  talks  about  the  "earth-born  impuri- 
ties," as  if  the  cultivated  and  sweet  grape  had,  like  man,  fallen 
and  was  impure.  The  cultivated  grape,  as  we  understand  it,  is 
beyond  a  question  a  "  good  gift  of  God,"  and  has  no  impurities  ; 
for  with  the  exception  of  the  seeds  and  skin,  it  contains  nothing 
but  what  is  useful  to  sustain,  nourish,  and  build  up  the  body  of 
man.  There  is,  so  far  as  we  know,  no  other  vegetable  fluid  which 
so  perfectly  contains  all  the  constituents  required  to  nourish  the 
human  body  as  unfermented  wine,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that 
it  has  a  similar  signification  to  that  of  blood ;  whereas,  chemistry 
demonstrates  that  fermented  wine,  with  the  exception  of  a  portion 
of  the  sugar,  and  even  this  is  not  always  present,  contains  few,  if 
any,  of  the  valuable  vegetable  compounds,  which  were  organized 
for  the  sustenance  of  man,  in  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  which  have 
not  been  either  entirely  or  partially  changed  in  the  direction  of 
decay  ;  and  we  have  in  their  stead,  resulting  from  the  destruction 
of  the  gluten  and  sugar,  alcohol,  the  most  pernicious  poison  known 
to,  or  used  by,  man.  It  would  seem  that  the  great  change  which  is 
wrought  upon  the  pure  grape  juice  by  leaven,  should  satisfy 
every  New  Churchman  that  fermented  wine  is  not  suitable  for  a 
drink  or  for  sacramental  purposes.  The  Church  of  the  New 


2i4  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND 

Jerusalem  using  leavened  wine  in  the  most  Holy  Supper  !  Only 
think  of  it,  dear  reader.  Is  it  strange  that  this  most  useful  and 
beneficial  ordinance  is  not  more  regularly  attended  by  the  mem- 
bers of  our  societies  ? 

The  Passover  was  one  of  the  representatives  which  our  Lord 
did  not  abrogate.  From  the  whole  of  the  Jewish  representative 
worship  these  two,  Baptism  and  the  Most  Holy  Supper,  were 
passed  over  into  the  first  Christian  Church;  and  then  con- 
tinued into  the  New  and  Everlasting  Church  now  being  built  up. 
"Of  all  those  representatives  the  Lord  retained  but  two,  which 
were  to  contain  in  one  complex  whatever  related  to  the  internal 
Church.  These  two  are  Baptism  instead  of  washings,  and  the 
Holy  Supper  instead  of  the  lamb  which  was  sacrificed  every  day, 
and  particularly  at  the  feast  of  the  Passover."  (T.  C.  R.  670.) 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  the  Holy  Supper  was  wholly  represent- 
ative and  correspondential,  and  that  the  correspondences  which 
pertained  to  the  Jewish  Passover,  so  far  as  leaven  which  always 
has  an  evil  signification  is  concerned,  belong  to  this  in  every 
particular. 

We  know  that  in  the  Passover  everything  leavened  was  strictly 
prohibited,  and  as  we  have  seen  in  preceding  chapters,  we  have 
every  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Lord  took  the  Passover  cup 
when  He  instituted  the  Holy  Supper,  and  consequently  that  it 
was  unfermented  wine  which  He  styled  the  fruit  of  the  vine. 
The  following  is  Swedenborg's  formula  for  preparing  bread  for 
the  Holy  Supper : 

"  That  in  the  Holy  Supper,  bread  (which  is  there  fine  flour  mixed  with  oil) 
and  wine  signify  love  and  faith,  thus  the  all  of  worship."  (A.  €.4581.) 

There  is  no  leaven  here,  and  nothing  leavened,  for  Swedenborg 
draws  the  above  from  the  meat  offerings  and  drink  offerings  de- 
scribed in  Leviticus  xxiii.  and  Numbers  xv.  Will  our  brethren 
of the  New  Jerusalem  Magazine  please  note  this?  Swedenborg, 
in  speaking  of  our  Lord's  remarks  after  He  had  instituted  the 
Holy  Supper,  says  :  "  Good  from  truth  and  truth  from  good, 
whereby  the  intellectual  principle  is  made  new,  or  the  man  is 


WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  215 

made  spiritual,  is  signified  by  the  fruit  of  the  vine  ;  the  appropri- 
ation thereof  is  signified  by  drinking.  To  drink  denotes  to  ap- 
propriate, and  is  predicated  of  truth.  That  this  is  not  done  fully 
but  in  the  other  life,  is  signified  by,  'until  that  day  when  I  shall 
drink  it  new  with  you  in  My  Father's  kingdom.'  That  the 
fruit  of  the  vine  does  not  mean  must  or  wine  \_non  mustum  nee 
vimtm~\,  but  somewhat  heavenly  of  the  Lord's  kingdom,  is 
very  manifest."  (A.  C.  5113.)  It  is  perfectly  clear  from  the 
above  that  Swedenborg  did  not  understand  that  the  material  wine 
which  the  Lord  and  His  disciples  had  been  using  when  He  in- 
stituted the  Hdy  Supper  was  fermented  wine.  It  is  certain  that 
He  had  in  mind  unfermented  wine  by  his  using  the  terms  must  or 
wine.  So  that  if  we  accept  Swedenborg  as  authority  as  to  the 
kind  of  wine  used  by  the  Lord  and  His  disciples  in.  this  Holy 
Ordinance,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  they  used  unfermented 
wine. 

Why  should  we  not  follow  the  Lord's  example,  and  use 
unfermented  wine  instead  of  fermented  or  leavened  wine? 
Why  should  we  persist  in  using  an  intoxicating  wine  which 
will  cause  stupor,  drunkenness,  insanity,  disease  and  death,  and 
which  we  know,  according  to  the  philosophy  of  the  Church, 
has  its  origin  from  hell,  and  which  Swedenborg  directly  compares 
to  falses  from  evil,  as  we  have  seen?  (A.  E.  1035.)  Can  we 
imagine  it  possible,  that  Swedenborg  would  have  compared  a 
wine  which  is  suitable  for  use  in  the  most  Holy  Supper  to  the 
worst  kind  of  falses — falses  from  evil  ?  Please  remember  that  he 
gives  us  no  chance  to  doubt  as  to  the  kind  of  wine  to  which  he 
refers  in  this  comparison ;  it  is  the  wine  that  causeth  drunken- 
ness. Is  it  possible  that  the  New  Church  can  prosper  while  it 
uses  such  a  wine  in  this  most  Holy  Ordinance,  and  while  many 
of  its  preachers,  writers,  and  members  justify  and  advocate  its 
use  as  a  beverage,  and  set  the  example  of  using  it?  Is  it  not 
time  that  we  of  the  New  Jerusalem  Church  "put  a  difference 
between  holy  and  unholy,  and  between  unclean  and  clean"? 
"Do  not  drink  wine,  nor  drink  that  maketh  drunken." — Lev.  x. 
8,  9.  (A.  C.  1072.) 


216  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND  1 

The  Writings  tell  us  that,  "  To  prevent  also  the  celestial  princi- 
ple of  the  Lord,  which  is  the  Lord's  proprium,  and  which  alone 
is  celestial  and  holy,  being  commixed  with  man's  proprium  which 
is  profane,  in  any  representative  right,  they  were  enjoined  not  to 
sacrifice  or  offer  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice  on  what  was  leavened 
(Ex.  xxiii.  1 8  ;  xxxiv.  25),  what  was  leavened  signifying  what 
was  corrupt  and  defiled."  (A.  C.  1001.)  "Whereas,  the  con- 
junction of  the  Lord  with  mankind  is  effected  by  love  and  charity, 
and  faith  thence,  those  celestial  and  spiritual  things  were  repre- 
sented by  the  unleavened  bread,  which  was  to  be  eaten  on  the 
days  of  the  Passover,  and  it  was  to  prevent  the  defilement  of  those 
things  by  anything  profane,  that  what  was  fermented  was  so 
severely  prohibited,  that  they  who  ate  it  should  be  cut  off ;  for 
they  who  profane  things  celestial  and  spiritual  must  needs 
perish."  (A.  C.  2342.) 

How  wonderfully  clear  the  science  of  correspondences  makes 
this  entire  subject.  "The  false,"  says  Swedenborg,  "does  not 
accord  with  good,  but  destroys  good,  for  the  false  is  of  evil,  and 
truth  is  of  good."  (A.  C.  7909.) 

"Leaven  denotes  the  false,"  we  are  told  by  Swedenborg.  (A. 
C.  7906.)  And  as  good  in  truth,  which  nourishes  and  gives  sub- 
stance to  the  regenerating  spirit  of  man,  is  destroyed  by  the  false, 
if  man  imbibes  and  appropriates  the  false  ;  so  leaven  in  its  action 
on  unfermented  wine,  to  the  extent  that  fermentation  proceeds, 
perverts,  destroys,  separates,  or  precipitates  every  thing  which  nour- 
ishes the  material  body  of  man  as  good  does  his  spirit.  It  destroys 
the  gluten,  the  albumen,  the  sugar,  the  phosphorus,  the  malic  acid, 
bitartrate  of  potash,  and  the  tartrate  of  lime,  which  give  substance 
to  the  wine,  and  which  cause  it,  when  boiled,  to  form  a  rich,  thick 
syrup,  and  if  boiled  a  sufficient  length  of  time,  a  comparatively  solid 
body,  capable  of  being  restored  to  its  original  integrity  by  the  addi- 
tion of  water.  You  can  get  no  rich  syrup,  and  little  or  no  valuable 
solid  body  of  food  substance  from  what  is  regarded  as  good,  well- 
fermented  wine  ;  for  the  bread  portion  which  nourishes  the  material 
body  of  man  as  good  in  truth  does  his  spiritual  body,  has  been 
mostly  destroyed  by  leaven.  Surely,  an  intelligent  New  Church- 


WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  217 

man  need  not  go  beyond  the  clear  correspondences  in  this  case  to 
be  satisfied  that  fermented  wine  is  in  no  way  a  suitable  article  for 
any  one  to  imbibe,  or  to  be  used  as  sacramental  wine.  If  any  one 
is  not  satisfied,  he  has  only  to  contrast  the  different  action  of 
unfermented  and  fermented  wine  upon  the  body  and  mind  of 
man.  The  former  nourishes  and  builds  up  the  body,  without  any 
unnatural  excitement ;  the  sweet,  which  corresponds  to  spiritual 
delights,  makes  glad  the  heart  of  man ;  it  creates  no  unnatural 
appetite,  and  therefore  does  not  require  to  be  taken  in  increased 
quantities  to  satisfy  the  appetite  for  it ;  it  causes  no  disease  pecu- 
liar to  itself,  even  when  taken  in  excess — no  disease  which  any 
other  healthy  article  taken  in  excess  might  not  cause. 

We  scarce  need  repeat  how  totally  different  from  all  this  is  the 
action  of  fermented  wine.  It  gives  comparatively  little  nourish- 
ment to  the  human  body,  for  most  of  its  nourishing  portion  has  been 
destroyed.  It  causes  the  most  intense  excitement — even  to  in- 
sanity— and  we  all  know  of  the  infernal  delights  which  it  excites  ;  of 
the  perverted  appetite  which  is  not  satisfied,  as  in  the  case  of 
healthy  articles,  with  a  regular  supply,  but  demands  an  increase 
until  drunkenness  or  other  forms  of  disease  ensue.  We  are  all  fami- 
liar with  the  fearful  diseases  which  it  causes — the  drunkenness, 
insanity,  delirium  tremzns,  gout,  etc.  Surely,  we  must  lay  aside 
our  common  sense,  and  close  our  eyes,  ears,  and  nostrils  to  what 
we  see,  hear  and  smell  around  us,  before  we  can  even  begin  to 
justify  the  use  of  fermented  wine,  for  any  purpose,  except  as  a 
medicine,  as  we  use  other  poisons. 

New  Churchmen,  who  have  erroneously  thought  the  Word 
favored  moderate  drinking  of  fermented  wine  as  innocent  and 
useful  may  be  aided  in  accepting  the  truth  upon  this  subject,  by 
reflecting  that  while  Christendom  has  for  eighteen  hundred  year 
believed  the  Word  taught  there  were  no  marriages  in  heaven 
Swedenborg  shows  that  the  Word  really  teaches  that  there  are 
marriages  in  heaven.  The  change  from  what  has  been  accepted 
as  the  teaching  of  the  Word  to  its  real  teaching  is,  to  say  the 
least,  not  as  great  in  the  case  of  wine  as  in  that  of  marriage,  for  a 
patient  and  careful  examination  of  the  letter  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 


zi  8  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND 

tures  in  the  original  languages  in  which  they  were  written,  has 
satisfied  many  of  the  ablest  scholars  of  the  age,  and  among  them 
the  late  Professor  George  Bush,  that  the  good  wine  of  the  Word, 
which  is  a  blessing  is  always  unfermented  wine,  and  never  fer- 
mented wine,  as  we  have  abundantly  shown  in  preceding  pages. 

A  writer  in  the  New  Jerusalem  Magazine,  in  criticizing  one  of 
the  editorials  which  has  been  noticed  in  this  work,  says  : 

"  Pharaoh's  butler,  in  his  dream,  took  the  grapes  and  pressed 
them  into  Pharaoh's  cup,  and  gave  the  cup  into  Pharaoh's  hand. 
Liquor  thus  obtained  and  drank  could  not  be  fermented  ;  yet  in 
the  A.  C.  5120,  it  is  regarded  as  wine,  and  in  the  early  part  of 
the  number  it  is  so  called. 

"When  treating  of  the  first-fruits  which  were  to  be  offered  to 
the  Lord,  Swedenborg  says  (A.  C.  9223)  :  < The  first-fruits  of  the 
vintage  were  the  first-fruits  of  wine,  of  must,  and  of  oil.'  Wine, 
here,  certainly  excludes  unfermented  grape  juice.  But  a  little 
further  on  he  says  :  'By  the  first-fruits  of  corn  and  wine  in  this 
verserare  rrneant  all  the  first-fruits .  of,  the  harvest  and  vintage 
just -now  spoken:  of  above.'  Here  wine  most  certainly  includes 
all  the  meaning  of .  wine  and  must  in  the  former  sentence.  It 
proves,  also,  that  whenever  he  speaks  of  the  first-fruits ..of  wine, 
he  means  the  term  to  include  all  forms  of  grape  juice,  unless 
other  terms  are  used." 

.The  above  writer,  in  the  sentence  which  has  been  placed  in 
italics,  makes  an  admission  which,  facts  did  not  require  him  to 
make,  and  his  construction  is  directly  contradicted  by  Sweden- 
borg in  the  .next,  quotation  which  he  makes.,  and  the  writer  seems 
to  be  aware  of  his  mistake,  but  apparently  he  does  not  see  how 
he  can  correct  it.  As  we. have  seen,  fermented  wine,  or  wine 
polluted  by  ferment,  is  never  the  fruit  of  .the  vintage,  but  is  pro- 
duced by  leaven  or  ferment,  whereas  wine  which  resulted  from 
boiling  the  sweet  .must  until  it  would  keep,  as  was  so  generally 
practised  by  the  ancients  as  we  have  seen,  was  in  every  respect 
the  fruit  of  the  vintage,  for.it  contained  nothing  but  what  was  pro- 
duced by  the  vine  ;  it  was  strictly  unfermented  wine — -and  among 
the  first-f.uits  of  the  vintage,  for  it  was  boiled  before  fermentation 


WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  219 


had  commenced,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  the  wine/tfr  excel- 
lence oi.  the  ancients. 

The  Rev.  C.  H.  Fowler,  in  his  excellent  work  on  "The  Wines 
of  the  Bible,"  says  : 

"  Let  me  give  you  for  a  moment  an  inside  look.  Here  is  a 
young  man,  gentle,  cultured,  with  his  nerves  on  the  surface  and 
his  heart  in  his  hand  and  his  soul  in  his  eye,  pushes  within  the 
reach  of  this  great  charmer.  It  may  be  in  your  house  on  New 
Year's  day  he  takes  his  first  taste.  He  finds  that  that  did  not 
kill  him  ;  he  tries  it  again  ;  he  is  pressed  with  work  ;  he  drinks 
to  strengthen  himself,  and  soon  the  old  story  is  repeated  over  in 
his  case  —  friendless,  homeless,  ragged,  blear-eyed,  bloated, 
oozing,  staggering,  creaking  in  every  joint,  covered  with  filth, 
making  his  way  down  to  death.  That  is  one  process.  There  is 
an  army  of  nearly  two  millions  of  cases  like  this.  Nearly  one 
hundred  thousand  annually  drop  into  a  drunkard's  grave.  But 
that  is  not  all.  Go  to  that  home  ;  what  is  the  process  there  ? 
The  wife  'is  as  gentle  as  any  woman  in  the  land,  trained  with 
the  utmost  care,  never  has  known  what  it  is  to  feel  the  pressure 
of  any  need,  goes  out  into  that  home  ;  soon  she  finds  that  there 
is  a  shadow  by  the  door.  She  shudders  ;  she  is  anxious.  Late 
hours  when  the  husband  comes  home  alarm  her;  she  smells 
his  breath  ;  she  misses  the  accustomed  luxuries  ;  ornaments 
cease  to  come  in,  the  old  ornaments  by  and  by  move  out;  the 
spoons  are  sold  and  gone  ;  the  forks  follow  ;  one  article  after 
another  vanishes  ;  the  Bible  goes,  the  fence  is  broken  down,  the 
windows  are  broken  out,  the  gate  falls  off,  the  sidewalk  is  torn 
up  —  it  is  shabby  and  wretched  ;  then  somebody  else  wants  even 
this  house,  and  the  one  in  the  alley  is  cheaper,  and  they  move 
into  the  alley.  Now  go  in.  No  furniture  but  a  bench  ;  no  fire, 
and  it  is  winter,  and  the  children  are  huddled  together  trying  to 
keep  warm.  The  father  comes  in  only  half-  drunk,  mad  for 
more  liquor  ;  abuses  the  woman  he  had  sworn  to  protect  ;  the 
children  cower  in  the  corner,  and  the  last  words  they  hear  are 
the  oaths  of  their  father,  and  the  last  sight  they  see  is  the  pale 
and  patient  face  of  the  mother.  Her  friends  have  left  her  long 


220  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND 

ago,  lost  sight  of  her ;  she  has  dropped  out  of  social  life ;  she 
has  almost  forgotten  the  girls  she  knew  when  she  was  a  girl ; 
there  she  is  !  In  the  morn  the  father  is  gone,  and  the  children 
see  her  cold  face  clotted  with  her  blood.  That  is  the  work  of 
this  monster. 

"You  may  take  any  one  of  the  great  army  of  haggard  women  that 
groan  and  stagger  on  without  hope  under  the  load  of  shame  and 
in  the  grip  of  perpetual  want ;  or  any  one  of  the  great  multitude 
of  children  worse  than  orphans,  inheriting  a  bondage  of  disease 
and  corruption,  bred  in  alleys,  dandled  in  the  lap  of  sin,  trained 
to  crime,  and  doomed  to  ignorance  and  infamy ;  you  may  take 
any  one  of  these  human  tatters,  torn  loose  from  all  social  re- 
straints and  left  to  flutter  in  the  gales  of  passion  and  burn  in  the 
fires  of  delirium,  and  I  will  stake  this  case  for  the  condemnation 
of  this  hoary  infinite  evil  at  the  bar  of  eternal  justice  upon  a 
single  sigh  or  sob  from  any  one  of  this  great  host  of  victims. 
If  sentence  against  this  monster  was  not  instantaneous  and  over- 
whelming in  the  light  of  human  thought,  the  good  Christ  would 
be  shut  up  to  open  and  almighty  war  for  the  capture  and  puri- 
fication of  the  eternal  throne.  It  is  not  thinkable  that  God  can 
either  approve  these  crimes  or  stand  idly  by  in  this  great  conflict." 

We  appeal  to  you,  dear  brethren  and  sisters  of  the  New 
Church,  who  see  the  truth  upon  this  subject,  to  arise  and  let  your 
light  shine  ;  to  combine  or  organize  and  exert  your  utmost  power, 
looking  to  the  Lord  for  strength  and  wisdom,  to  overthrow  this 
fearful  evil,  which  is  destroying  the  bright  prospects  of  the  young, 
and  making  so  many  homes  desolate,  and  destroying  the  germs 
of  heavenly  life  in  so  many  souls. 

It  is  surely  high  time  that  the  members  of  the  New  Church 
in  this  country  should  follow  the  example  of  their  brethren  in 
Great  Britain,  and  muster  their  forces  for  a  conflict  with  the 
fearful  evil  of  wine,  beer,  and  whisky-drinking.  Our  people 
here  should  not  be  behind  the  New  Church  people  in  England 
and  Scotland  in  perceiving  this  evil,  and  desiring  to  rid  the  New 
Church  of  all  responsibility  for  its  continuance  among  us.  Many 
believe,  with  the  writer,  that  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  the  writings 


WOMKX  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  221 

of  the  Church,  and  the  laws  of  natural  life  and  health  all  clearly 
require  them  to  abstain  themselves,  and  to  induce  and  encourage 
others  to  abstain  from  intoxicating  drinks,  and  this  duty  they  are 
ready  to  perform  if  a  way  to  it  is  opened  to  them.  A  scattered 
multitude  cannot  drive  from  its  citadel  an  enemy  so  strongly  for- 
tified by  social  custom,  and  sustained  by  confirmed  habit,  as  this 
is.  For  successful  opposition  to  this  giant  evil,  both  silent  con- 
viction and  isolated  action  will  continue  to  be  insufficient. 

What  they  have  done  in  Great  Britain  we  need  to  do  here — 
that  is,  to  organize  our  Bands  of  Hope  in  our  Churches,  and  then 
our  General  Conference ;  and  we  especially  need  to  interest 
our  young  people  in  this  great  work  of  the  Church,  and  thus 
strive  to  lead  them  into  a  life  of  shunning  evils  as  sins  against 
the  Lord,  and  to  labor  for  the  welfare  of  others.  This  work, 
in  order  to  be  made  fully  successful,  must  be  a  work  of  the 
New  Church.  It  will  help  our  young  people  to  remain  in  the 
Church,  by  giving  them  something  to  do,  not  only  for  those  in 
the  Church,  but  also  for  those  around  them  outside  of  the  Church  ; 
and  thus  by  showing  them  that  the  Church  is  a  living,  working 
organization,  and  that  it  will  save  many  of  them  and  others  from 
ruin,  it  will  lead  them  to  feel  that  the  Church  is  really  an  ark  of 
safety. 

We  also  need  that  our  periodicals  should  be  renovated,  so  that 
they  can  enter  our  homes  laden  with  the  truths  of  our  Lord's 
New  Church,  without  countenancing,  or  excusing  or  encouraging 
the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  ;  and  so  that  they  will  assail,  without 
fear  or  favor,  the  various-  dreadful  evils  which  are  both  physically 
and  spiritually  so  destructive  to  the  human  race,  instead  of 
being  either  silent  or  directly  opposing  needed  reforms.  Such 
periodicals  would  command  the  respect  of  the  multitude  of  men 
and  women,  who,  belonging  to  no  Church  organization,  are 
striving  to  shun  such  evils,  and  favorably  impress  them  toward 
the  new  doctrines.  Such  periodicals  would  enter  the  drunkard's 
home,  conveying  wholesome  words  of  warning  to  the  evil-doer, 
and  of  hope  to  the  worse  than  widowed  wife  and  fatherless  chil- 
dren, encouraging  them  to  bear  their  great  sorrow — unsurpassed 


222  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND 

by  any  on  earth — with  Christian  patience  and  fortitude,  and  to 
look  to  the  Lord  for  help  and  strength.  But  send  a  paper  or 
periodical  which  either  advocates,  or  excuses  and  justifies,  and 
thereby  encourages  the  use  of  fermented  wines  and  other  drinks 
of  an  intoxicating  nature,  how  different  the  result ;  only  the 
tippler  and  confirmed  drunkard  in  the  family  will  be  attracted  to 
such  a  paper,  and  to  the  Church  whose  doctrines  it  advocates. 
To  the  poor,  broken-hearted,  crushed  mother,  who  is  suffering 
mentally  and  physically,  as  only  the  wife  of  a  drunkard  can 
suffer,  and  who  is  struggling  for  life,  and  to  feed  and  clothe  her 
half-starved  and  ragged  children,  what  consoLition  or  encourage- 
ment does  it  give  to  such  a  needy  one,  as  she  reads  and  per- 
ceives that  the  periodical  encourages  her  children  to  follow 
in  the  footsteps  of  their  drunken  father,  by  countenancing  the 
drinking  of  fermented  wines  and  liquors — temperately,  of  course  ? 
That  which  may  encourage  her  children  may  encourage  yours 
and  mine,  dear  reader.  Do  you  feel  like  taking  such  a  fearful 
responsibility,  kind  parent? 

We  need  also  that  our  periodicals  should,  first  of  all,  teach  men, 
women  and  children  what  are  the  individual  evils  which  are  so 
destructive  and  injurious  to  our  race,  both  physically  and  spiritu- 
ally, and  then  to  teach  them  to  shun  such  evils  as  sins  against 
God,  and  that  to  shun  evils  as  sins  against  God  is  to  do  good  ; 
it  does  good  by  placing  the  Lord  always  before  us,  and  thus 
developing  a  sense  of  reverence  for  His  name.  To  shun  the 
use  of  the  drunkard's  cup,  tobacco,  opium,  the  habit  of  tight- 
dressing,  idleness,  and  the  like  manifold  evils  does  good  by  pre- 
serving ourselves  free  from  the  physical  and  mental  suffering  and 
disease  which  such  indulgences  and  habits  are  capable  of  causing, 
and  thereby  prolonging  our  lives  and  our  sphere  of  usefulness 
while  we  are  in  this  world,  and  increasing  our  capacity  and  oppor- 
tunity for  good  works.  To  shun  such  evils  does  even  more  good 
by  the  excellent  example  it  sets  before  others,  especially  to  chil- 
dren and  young  men  and  maidens. 

Outside  of  the  surrounding  churches  of  to-day  is  a  vast  multi- 
tude in  a  comparatively  Gentile  state,  as  the  writer  has  frequently 


WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  223 

intimated,  and  here  it  would  seem  is  our  field  for  missionary  labor, 
and  it  is  "  white  and  ready  for  the  harvest."  The  printed  page, 
especially  in  the  form  of  a  periodical,  is  an  efficient,  cheap,  and 
quiet  missionary,  and  it  excites  little  combat  and  jealousy.  If 
our  periodicals  were  made  interesting  by  items  of  news,  discovery, 
the  arts,  and  especially  if  they  were  to  lead,  as  they  should,  to 
interest  all  in  the  great  reforms  of  the  new  age,  by  presenting 
spiritual  motives,  as  well  as  natural,  they  would  command  the 
respect  and  support  of  many  who  do  not  now  belong  to  the  New 
Church  ;  and  primarily,  if  they  contained  the  choice  extracts  from 
the  Writings  of  Swedenborg,  the  pithy  comments  of  many  of  the 
collateral  writings  of  the  Church,  and  if  they  were  to  avoid  all 
merely  speculative  articles  upon  impracticable  subjects,  such  per- 
iodicals would  quickly  lead  many  to  attend  our  Churches,  and  to 
read  the  Writings  of  Swedenborg,  and  thus  come  into  the  light  of 
the  New  Jerusalem. 

Has  the  Church  any  more  important  aims  than  these,  alike  to 
promulgate  her  doctrines,  and  to  protect  her  own  members  and 
the  young  people  from  the  direful  evils  which  constantly  sur- 
round them?  What  better  plan  can  be  adopted,  or  one  more 
likely  to  attract  the  attention  of  those  around  us,  who  are  striving 
to  shun  evils,  and  who  inwardly  desire  to  live  a  pure  and  good 
life,  and  are  therefore  good  ground  for  the  seedsman  ? 

Our  periodicals  should  be  worthy  of  our  glorious  cause,  and  a 
credit  to  the  New  Church  now  being  built  up,  by  leading  in  every 
good  work.  A  true  faith  is  important,  but  a  good,  useful  and 
orderly  life  is  surely  not  less  necessary.  The  two  must  be 
united,  and  such  principles  should  be  upheld  strongly  and  un- 
compromisingly by  our  periodicals,  for  their  existence  on  any 
other  foundation  will  surely  bring  them  to  a  fall,  sooner  or  later, 
and  deservedly  so,  for  religion  is  of  the  Life.  Our  teachers  and 
writers,  and  especially  our  periodicals,  in  order  that  they  may  com- 
mand the  respect  of  the  men  of  the  incoming  age,  must  point  out 
the  individual  evils  which  are  so  injurious  and  destructive  to  our 
race,  openly  proclaim  that  they  are  evils,  and  strive  to  lead  men 
to  shun  them  as  sins  against  God.  A  New  Church  periodical 


224  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND 

which  fails  to  do  this,  at  this  day,  has  no  legitimate  excuse  for  a 
continued  existence  ;  and  especially  some  of  our  periodicals  must 
cease  to  lend  aid  and  comfort  to  the  manufacturers,  sellers,  and 
drinkers  of  intoxicating  liquors,  or.  they  need  not  expect  to  receive 
the  patronage  of  the  earnest  men  and  women  of  the  Church  of 
the  New  Jerusalem  much  longer. 

The  Rev.  Newman  HaH,  D.  D.,  of  London,  gives  statistics 
which  show  that,  from  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  ten  thousand 
members  are  lost  to  the  Christian  Churches  every  year. 

We  need  not  expect  to  overcome  such  a  fearful  evil  as  wine- 
drinking  in  a  community  without  a  contest ;  for  in  the  individual 
man,  who  has  acquired  a  taste  for  this  seductive  fluid,  it  is  a  life- 
and-death  struggle,  and,  if  he  escapes  from  a  drunkard's  grave,  it 
is  by  a  life-long  warfare  that  he  succeeds. 

Then,  again,  we  have  to  remember,  as  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samson 
says  :  that,  "when  any  change  in  popular  customs  is  proposed, 
the  suggestion  for  reform  implies,  first,  that  tho  common  opinion 
is  erroneous ;  second,  that  interests  involved  are  imperiled  ;  and, 
third,  that  conduct  before  unchallenged  is  censured.  This  three- 
fold difficulty  is  to  be  met  and  overcome ;  pride  of  intellectual 
oversight ;  sacrifice  of  personal  interest ;  and  admission  of  faults 
in  practice.  It  is  easy  to  make,  in  general,  the  admission  that 
no  mind  can  have  taken  in  the  whole  field  "of  truth ;  that  no 
man  is  wholly  free  from  the  promptings  of  self-interest ;  and 
that  no  human  being  was  ever  perfect  in  life.  It  is  hard,  how- 
ever, to  bring  one's  self  up  to  the  point  where  without  prejudice, 
selfishness  or  preference,  the  rule  of  newly  discovered  truth,  duty 
and  Christian  humility  can  be  made  dominant.  If  this  be  hard 
to  attain  in  minds  specially  thoughtful  and  conscientious,  it  is  yet 
harder  to  bring  a  community,  or  an  age,  up  to  the  full  spirit  of 
reform.  There  has  never  been  a  great  reform  in  social  habits,  in 
politics,  in  morals,  or  in  religion,  that  has  not  required  many 
generations  to  make  the  new  view  and  new  life  thorough  and 
pervasive." 

If  we  laymen  consider  how  these  things  cannot  help  but 
influence  the  clergy,  we  shall  be  kept  from  two  mistakes — from 


WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  225 

expecting  too  much  assistance  from  them  in  this  struggle  against 
the  fearful  evil  of  wine  and  whisky-drinking,  and  consequent 
intemperance,  and  also  from  unjust  and  harsh  criticism  concern- 
ing them.  Some  are  in  ignorance,  because  they  are  still  bound 
in  the  forms,  ceremonies  and  falsities  of  a  consummated  Church, 
so  that  they  see  not  the  light  of  the  New  Jerusalem  that  shines 
around  them ;  others  are  reading  and  pondering,  and  opening 
their  hearts  to  these  great  truths ;  and  a  few,  we  are  happy  to 
say,  are  in  full  accord  with  us  in  helping  on  this  needful  reform, 
both  by  their  example  and  teaching ;  and  the  number  of  these 
is  sure  to  increase. 

We  should  remember,  too,  that  great  reforms  have  rarely  com- 
menced with  the  clergy,  for  they  are  generally  conservative  and 
wedded  to  prevailing  views,  if  not  confirmed  therein.  Abraham, 
the  called-of-the-Lord,  was  not  a  clergyman.  The  disciples,  who 
followed  the  Lord  when  on  earth,  were  not  chosen  from  the 
Jewish  priesthood.  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  the  herald  of  the  New 
Dispensation  from  God  to  man,  was  not  chosen  from  the  Chris- 
tian priesthood.  Wilberforce  and  Garrison,  the  leaders  of  the  army 
of  freedom  against  slavery,  were  not  clergymen.  Moses,  the  chosen 
leader  of  the  children  of  Israel,  was  not  a  clergyman  ;  but  Aaron, 
whom  Moses  withstood,  and  whose  idolatrous  calf  he  ground  to 
pieces,  was  already' chosen  the  High  Priest  of  the  Church  ;  yet  it 
was  only  as  Aaron  and  Hur  held  up  the  hands  of  Moses  that  Israel 
was  able  to  overcome  Amalek  (Ex.  xvii.  12),  and  the  priests  bear- 
ing the  Ark  entered  first  of  all  into  the  Promised  Land  (Josh.  iii. 
13).  So  that  even  though  the  clergy  may  not  lead,  at  first,  in  the 
warfare  against  such  external  evils  as  we  have  been  considering, 
yet  we  require  their  support,  and  in  due  time  we  shall  have  it.  It 
is  their  province  to  lead  in  good  works  and  minister  in  holy  ordi- 
nances, and  so  we  hope  and  believe  it  will  be  with  our  own  ministers 
whom  we  honor  and  love  for  the  sake  of  their  office.  When  the 
battle  has  fairly  begun,  and  the  clergy,  seeing  the  truth  and  freed 
from  their  old  prejudices,  shall  have  taken  their  proper  place  among 
the  leaders  of  the  Lord's  host  in  its  conflicts  with  those  evils  which 
are  destroying  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men  ;  then,  then,  indeed,  the 


225  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  MEN  AND 

victory  will  be  assured.  Then  the  Church  of  God,  a  well-marshalled 
army,  fighting  in  solid  phalanx  on  the  side  of  truth  and  love,  of 
justice  and  mercy,  of  temperance  in  all  good  uses  and  total  absti- 
nence from  all  evil  uses,  shall  go  on  from  victory  to  victory,  till  the 
drinking  of  fermented  wine  and  whisky  is  forever  banished  from 
the  Church  and  the  world. 

No  man  or  soldier  ever  enlisted  in  a  more  noble  or  more 
worthy  cause  than  this.  The  enslavement  of  man  by  his  fellow- 
man  is  bad  enough,  but  it  is  only  natural  slavery  after  all,  for  the 
slave  is  free  to  will  and  to  think  right ;  and  if  he  is  so  restrained 
that  he  cannot  always  do  what  he  believes  to  be  right,  it  is  not  his 
fault.  His  understanding  may  be  unclouded  by  his  bondage, 
and  his 'will  left  free ;  but  oh  !  how  different  from  all  this,  how 
much  more  fearful  is  the  slavery  which  results  from  the  use  of 
intoxicating  drinks,  where  the  strongest  will  is  powerless  and  the 
clearest  intellect  is  clouded  until  the  truth  cannot  be  recognized, 
or  if  seen  is  denied. 

Go,  kind  reader,  as  the  writer  has  done,  to  the  bedside  of  men 
of  naturally  strong  wills  and  clear  intellects,  as  they  are  recover- 
ing from  an  attack  of  delirium  tremens,  and  behold  the  utter 
desolation  of  the  poor  slaves,  and  the  despair  with  which  they 
look  forward  to  the  future,  then  answer  if  African  slavery  was  not 
tame  when  compared  with  the  wild,  mad  slavery  which  results 
from  the  indulgence  of  fermented  liquors.  A  very  intelligent 
man  whom  the  writer  had  just  attended  during  an  attack  of  this 
disease,  was  asked  to  give  a  history  of  his  connection  with  intoxi- 
cating drinks.  .He  replied  that  when  a  young  man  he  found  that 
he  was  getting  too  fond  of  such  stimulants,  and  he  resolved  to 
abandon  them  forever,  and  for  fifteen  years  he  never  tasted  them. 
In  the  meantime  he  married,  and  became  the  father  of  several 
children.  One  evening  when  he  and  his  wife  were  visiting  some 
friends,  the  lady  of  the  house  passed  around  some  fermented 
wine,  and  invited  him  to  take  a  glass.  "  For  the  first  time  within 
fifteen  years,"  he  said,  "I  was  seriously  tempted  to  drink.  I 
turned  to  my  wife,  and  asked  her  if  I  should  take  a  glass ;  she 
replied  that  she  did  not  think  one  glass  would  hurt  me  ;  but  that 


WOMEN  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH.  227 

one  glass 'was  my  ruin.  My  old  appetite  returned  with  renewed 
strength,  and  you  know  the  result."  Alas,  poor  man  !  The 
writer  knew  but  too  well  the  sad  results  which  had  flowed  to  him 
and. his  distressed  wife  and  children  from  that  one  glass  of  fer- 
mented wine,  presented  by  a  lady  friend  ;  for  during  one  attack  of 
delirium  tremens,  in  an  attempt  to  escape  from  imaginary  foes, 
he  attempted  to  kill  himself,  by  springing  with'  all  of  his  strength 
and  jamming  his  head  against  a  door-frame,  laying  his  scalp  open 
for  several  inches ;  and  on  another  occasion  he  was  insane  for 
several  weeks  after  an  attack.  Little  did  that  lady  dream  of  the 
dreadful  injury  she  was  doing  her  middle-aged  guest  by  presenting 
him  with  a  glass  of  wine  ;  little  does  any  lady  know  of  the  harm 
she  may  do  to  any  one,  especially  to  the  young,  when  she  presents 
this  seductive  fluid  to  their  lips.  Let  us  all  remember  the  words 
of  Holy  Writ :  "  Woe  to  him  that  giveth  his  neighbor  drink ;  and 
puttest  thy  botde  to  him." 

And  now,  dear  brethren  and  sisters  of  the  New  Church,  we 
have  seen  that  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  as  translated  by  Emanucl 
Swedenborg,  teaches  that  a  "  drink  that  maketh  drunken "  is 
unholy  and  unclean,  and  we  know  that  fermented  wine  will  cause 
drunkenness  ;  we  are  taught  in  the  writings  of  the  Church  that 
all  substances  which  are  poisonous  and  will  harm  and  kill  men, 
have  their  origin  from  hell,  and  we  know  that  fermented  wine 
has  in  all  ages  done  this  and  is  doing  it  to-day  all  around  us  ;  and 
Swedenborg  actually  compares  such  wine  as  causes  drunkenness 
to  fa)ses  from  evil,  as  we  have  seen ;  and  even  the  Academy  of 
the  New  Church  claims  (see  Words  for  the  New  Church,  vol.  VII. 
page  133)  to  have  seen  that  it  consequently  corresponds  to  falses 
from  evil,  which  is  undoubtedly  correct,  for  it  produces  natural 
drunkenness  and  insanity,  as  falses  from  evil  do  spiritual  drunken- 
ness and  insanity  ;  it  must  therefore  correspond  to  such  falses.  We 
are  clearly  taught  by  the  sciences  of  this  day  that  the  use  of  fer- 
mented wine  is  not  only  entirely  unnecessary  during  health,  but 
also  that  it  tends  to  pollute,  disease,  and  destroy  the  material  body, 
and  to  cause  the  most  fearful  mental  perversions,  not  unfrequently 
even  to  insanity ;  knowing  all  this,  as  many  of  us  certainly  do, 


228  FINAL  APPEAL  TO  THE  NEW  CHURCH. 

can  we  consistently — conscientiously  if  you  please — continue  to 
partake  of  leavened  or  fermented  wine  in  the  most  holy  ordinance 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  ?  Some  of  us  we  know  have  not  unfre- 
quently  felt  that  it  was  almost,  if  not  quite,  a  profanation  to  par- 
take of  such  a  fluid,  and  have  even  absented  ourselves  from  the 
Lord's  Table,  for  this  reason.  Now  is  such  a  course  right, 
and  have  we  done  our  duty?  Have  we  requested  the  societies 
to  which  we  belong  to  furnish  unfermented  wine  for  such  mem- 
bers as  have  conscientious  scruples  against  using  fermented  wine  ? 
If  we  have  not  done  this,  should  we  not  do  so  before  absent- 
ing ourselves  from  this  most  needed  ordinance  ?  As  members  of 
societies,  we  have  rights  which  our  brethren  are  bound  to  respect ; 
and  we  should  remember  that  they  have  rights  which  we  are 
equally  bound  to  respect.  Those  who  conscientiously  desire  to 
use  fermented  wine  should  certainly  have  the  privilege  of  doing 
so.  The  freedom  we  desire  for  ourselves  we  should  cheerfully 
grant  to  others  in  the  bonds  of  charity,  for  in  no  other  way  can 
unity  be  preserved  in  the. Church.  "In  certainty,  unity ;  in 
doubt,  liberty  ;  in  all  things,  charity." 

In  concluding  this  work,  the  writer  desires  to  repeat  that  it  is 
his  settled  conviction  that  very  little  real  abiding  headway  can  be 
made  against  the  present  drinking  habits,  and  the  consequent 
drunkenness  which  exists  around  us,  until  fermented  wine  is  ban- 
ished from  the  communion  tables  in  our  Churches ;  for  its  pres- 
ence there,  especially  its  exclusive  presence,  gives  it  character 
and  credit  everywhere  where  the  influence  of  the  Churches 
which  use  it  is  felt.  The  use  of  fermented  wine  as  communion 
wine  is  a  fearful  evil  and  source  of  "woe"  to  the  New  Church,  a 
cruel  injury  to  some  of  its  members,  an  injustice  to  others,  a  temp- 
tation to  the  young,  and  a  stumbling-block  to  multitudes  who 
otherwise  might  be  attracted  to  the  Church  by  our  beautiful  and 
rational  doctrines,  which  have  descended  from  the  Lord  out  of 
heaven  to  purify,  heal,  and  bless  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Let 
us  never  rest  until  this  evil  is  put  away  from  the  Church. 


THE  BIBLE  WINE  QUESTION. 


The  National  Temperance  Society  has  published  a  variety  of  Books  and 
Tracts  upon  the  Wine  Question,  by  some  of  the  ablest  writers  in  the  world. 
The  investigation  clearly  shows  the  existence  of  two  kinds  of  wine,  the 
fermented  and  unfermented,  and  presents  numerous  and  convincing  authori- 
ties. The  following  is  a  list : — 

THE  DIVIXK  LAW  AS  TO  WIXES.  12111.).  456  pp.  By 
GEORGE  W.  SAMSON,  1).  I).,  former  President  of  Columbian 
University,  Washington,  D.C Si  25 

TEMPERANCE  BIBLE  COMMENTARY.  P,y  Dr.  F.  K.  LEES  and 

Rev.  DAWSON  BTRNS  .  .  .  '  .  .  .  2  50 

BIBLE  WIXES;  OK,  THE  LAWS  <>i  EKRMKNTATION,  AND  WINKS  OK 
•j'HK  ANCIENTS.  121110.  139  pp.  By  Rev.  WM.  PATTON,  D.I). 
Paper,  25  cents;  cloth  ....... 

THE  TEXT-BOOK  OF  TEMPERANCE.      By    Dr.    F.    R.    Li 

E.  S.  A.      Paper  50  cents;    cloth  .         .         .          .  i    25 

GOSPEL  TEMPERANCE.  121110.  177  pp.  By  Rev.  J.  M.  VAN 
BKKKN.  Paper,  25  cents;  cloth  ..... 

BIBLE    RULE    OF   TEMPERANCE.      iSmo.    206    pp.      Bv   Rev. 

OKOR<;K.  Di'KKiKLn,  1).  D 50 

COMMUNION    WIXE;    OR,    BIHLK  TEMPERANCE.     133    pp.     By 

Rev.  WM.  M.  THAYKR.      Paper,  20  cents;   cloth         .        '.         50 

SCRIPTURE  TESTIMONY  AGAINST  INTOXICATING  WIXE. 

By  Rev.  WM.  M.  RLTCHIK,  of  Scotland.     iSmo.  213  pp.         .         50 

MODERATION  VS.    TOTAL  ABSTINENCE;     OR,   DR.  CROSBY 

AND   His  RKVIKAVKRS.          . 25 

THE  CHURCH  AND  TEMPERANCE.   By  JOHN  W.  MKARS,  I).  D.         10 

THE  MORAL  DUTY  OF  TOTAL  ABSTINENCE.       By  Rev.  T. 

L.  Cuyler,  D.  D '       .          .          10 

THE  WIXES  OF  THE   BIBLE.     By  Rev.  C.   II.  FOWLER,  D.D.         10 

WINE-DRINKING    AXD    THE    SCRIPTURES.       By    Professor 

TAVI.KR  LKAVIS,   L  L.D.     121110.  21   pp.  10 

THE  NEW  HOUSE  AND  ITS  BATTLEMENT.     By  Rev.  JOSEPH 

COOK.      121110.  24  pp.  .......         10 

UNFERMENTED  WIXE   A    FACT.       By  NORMAN    KKRR,  M.D., 

F.  R.  S.     121110.41  pp 10 

THE  PLAGUES,    ALCOHOLIC  AND  NARCOTIC      By  Rev.  T. 

DK.WITI    TAI.MAIU;K,   D.D.     121110.  32  pp.          .  .         10 

TEX  LECTURES  ON    \L<<  >][<  )L.      By  P..  W.  RICHARDSON,  M.  I)., 
of  England,  Author  of  "Twenty-one    Historic    Landmarks." 
"  Tempi-ranee   Lesson-Book,"  etc.     1'aprr,  50  cents;    cloth      .       I   OO 
Sent  by  mail,  post  paid,  on  receipt  of  pi; 

Address  J.  X.  STEARNS,  Publishing  Agent,  58  Reade  St.,  New  York. 


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